Hermione Granger and the Final Year
by jdg9813
Summary: Hermione Granger has her next year planned out, all she wants to do is finish her last year at Hogwarts and pass her N.E.W.Ts, but she keeps getting interrupted by constant attempts to kill her. But before that she has an errand to run...in Australia
1. Chapter 1

**Nostalgia and a Minister**

Hermione Granger was standing in the living room of her childhood home. A lot of her spare time had lately been spent wishing that she would be able to call it home again some day soon. She looked over at the empty fireplace of which no flame had been lit in a long while, it brought back memories of snowy winter nights spent watching the television with her parents or curling up on the sofa with a good spell book. Her right hand fell from her folded arms to her new wand (Chestnut, ten and a quarter inches, dragon heartstring core, bought from the recently re-opened Ollivanders Wand Shop in Diagon Alley) and she whipped it out of her jeans pocket. She pointed it at the empty fireplace and thought very hard the word "_Incendio!" _and flames sprouted from the tip of her wand, igniting the old coal in the fireplace giving the room more warmth, not though she needed it as it was early July. Hermione had gotten very good at non verbal spells.

She left the living room and moved down a hallway once filled with photographs and rare artwork, now empty, moving towards the kitchen. Thoughts of muggle photos reminded her that photos could move in the wizarding world when developed in a certain potion, and you could also have a nice chat with a portrait. Whilst in the kitchen she had flashbacks of helping her mother or father cook dinner. Hermione had never been a good cook, anything that she had ever cooked either came out burnt, stayed frozen or both at the same time, so she had mainly helped by fetching things. The thoughts of cooking and fire mixed together in Hermione's head and she thought of every birthday she spent in this house in the years before Hogwarts; how she would blow out the candles in the cakes her mother would bake her. Of course Mrs. Granger's cooking would be considered pitiful to that of Mrs. Weasley, whose house she was staying in, the same house that her recent new boyfriend, Ron, lived. She had had a crush on him for a while which she now thought might have been sort of obvious to a selective few (pretty much everyone who ever saw the two of them together before).

Hermione walked back down the hallway and made her way to the stairs, she walked up them and into her parent's old bedroom. She pushed her masses of bushy, brown hair behind her ears and out of her eyes which stared at the empty shelves once filled with trinkets, souvenirs and books. Her parents were very intellectual people (for instance Hermione had been named after a character in a Shakespeare play) and, if anyone had ever met Hermione, they would know that this was something that she had inherited gravely. She remembered the posters of diagrams of teeth and fun facts about enamel loss and tooth decay, her parents had been dentists, they always made sure that Hermione brushed her teeth at least four times a day (Once after every meal and once before going to sleep) because,

"You can never be too careful." Her father had always told her. Of course she always did after the tooth horror stories they used to tell her. She missed her parents very much. Before she went, Ron and her best friend, Harry Potter went hunting for Horcruxes (and successfully, resulting in Harry's defeat, and the death, of Lord Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard of all time), she modified her parent's memories to stop them from getting tortured for information. They now thought that they were called Wendell and Monica Wilkins whose life ambition was to move to Australia, which, of course, they did, however they didn't know tat they even had a daughter, now it was only a matter of finding them.

Then she walked on to her own old room with a single tear spilling down her cheek. It was joined by a few more when she saw her empty room besides from her old bed sitting there, gathering dust, lonely and surrounded by vacant space.

Hermione's nostalgia was then interrupted, before she was able to break into a full on sob, by something that jumped through the window glass, without smashing it, and landed on her bed. It was a small, silvery dog, to be exact; it was a small, silvery Jack-Russell terrier which she recognized as Ron's patronous charm. Then the Jack- Russell terrier spoke with Ron's voice.

"Hey sweetheart, n'ah, I can't really pull of sweetheart can I, anyw- Oh stop laughing George, anyway, you're there again aren't you, didn't I tell you to stop going there because you'll just get here crying again," Hermione had come from this house crying for the past four days now, "Mums served up lunch, better get here fast before Ginny scoffs the whole lot- OW! Ginny that really hurt, go AWAY! I'm trying to talk to my girlfriend!" She let out her first giggle in many hours, "Well, bye then, I lo- I mean, um, see you soon."

The Jack-Russell then evaporated into silver vapor and faded away. Hermione made her way down the stairs and back to the living room and looked at the same fire that she, herself, had created, for the second time she whipped out her wand and muttered under her breath the incantation,

"_Aguamenti" _and a jet of water gushed from the tip of her wand and extinguished the flames in the fireplace and she stuffed her wand back into her jean pocket. When she reached the front door she realized that there was no point in opening it. She closed her eyes and focused with all of her might on the burrow and gave a little spin on the spot, she had dissapparated.

She opened her eyes and was staring up and down at the magnificent Burrow and realized something strange, she was much taller than usual. She found her answer when by looking down and she noticed that she noticed that she was standing right on top of the Weasley's chicken coop. Her legs jumped to the ground before she realized what they were doing and the rest of her body followed, she walked through the gate of the chicken pen and past a few gnomes on the way to the Burrow's kitchen. Huge amounts of sandwiches, sausage rolls, scotch eggs and all manors of homemade savory products which were no doubt made by Mrs. Weasley and were no doubt delicious.

At the long table there sat: Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Percy, George, Ginny and, Hermione was pleased to see, Harry and Ron. She sat down at the empty place setting opposite Harry and next to Ron and they all tucked in (she was right, the food was delicious). For a while the three of them sat eating in silence, just knowing that two of her favorite people in the world were with her was comfort enough. Finally Harry broke the silence and spoke,

"Cheers for teaching us how to do that talking patronous thing, I'm sure that will come in handy for messaging you quickly whilst you're at Hogwarts this year." It was true, Hermione had decided to finish her seventh year of Hogwarts to get all of her N.E.W.T qualifications. Ron then spoke through a mouthful of quiche,

"I' 'as c'me 'n u'ful, I u'd I' ho'ay."

"What on earth did you just say Ron?" asked Harry sounding a tad bit disgusted.

"Oh, he said: _It has come in useful, I used it today." _Translated Hermione who had become an expert in translating what she liked to call: _Ancient Ron's._

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were sitting in the living room of the Burrow, full from a very satisfying meal; Hermione was in Ron's arms and Ginny in Harry's. They were all watching Ron snatch and return light from an oil lamp with Dumbledore's deluminator (a device of Dumbledore's own making which resembled a cigarette lighter). Mr. Weasley then burst in all of a sudden looking slightly scared and blurted out almost too fast for humans to understand,

"Minister for Magic here, now, and needs to talk to you!" Mr. Weasley stepped aside (when doing so knocked off his horn rimmed glasses onto the floor and bending over, squinting, trying to find them and, once doing so, stood up straight and official looking) to reveal the large, black man that they all knew as Kingsley Shacklebolt, before the Minister was Kingsley it would have come as more of a shock to have him in the house, but as Kingsley was a friend to the family, it was no stranger than having an aunt or uncle round for afternoon tea. The only slightly shocking part of Kingsley's sudden appearance was that his hand was resting on the shoulder of none other than Neville Longbottom, a very dear friend to them all.

Hermione was surprised to see Ron rise up to bow at Kingsley's presence but sat down embarrassed after everyone else in the room (even Kingsley himself) sniggered at him.

"I admire your, oh, let's say… loyalty, Mr. Weasley," started Kingsley in a booming sort of voice, "It is actually you, Mr. Potter and Mr. Longbottom here that I desire a chat with, Miss Weasley, Miss Granger and Arthur, would you mind giving us some privacy." At this, Mr. Weasley, Ginny and Hermione all left the room and closed the door behind them,

"What do you think he wants to talk to them about?" Ginny was the first to ask out of many who wanted to.

"I don't know." Replied Hermione, "Maybe some sort of special job for the Ministry." after suggesting this though, Hermione thought that why would they ask Neville to do such a thing and not Hermione, that is, if it were true. Harry, Ron and Hermione were like the three musketries, they were inseparable.

"Oh, I bet it's exciting, well, I hope it is" said Mr. Weasley.

"As long as it's not dangerous, right Arthur?" said Mrs. Weasley who, no-one had noticed, was in the same room.

"Oh yes Molly, of course." Replied Mr. Weasley, Hermione noticed his smile start to fade slightly. For the next five or so minutes they argued about what they could be discussing, they covered everything from returning an overdue library book to being hired as dragon tamers g the cure to hiccoughs.

Soon enough, Kingsley, Harry, Ron and Neville emerged from out of the living room doorway and Kingsley was the first to speak,

"Thanks for greeting me into your home Arthur and Molly, the house is looking lovely as always, however I'm afraid that I must bid you all good day." and Kingsley dissapparated.

"Well what did he want to talk to you about?" asked Hermione, grasping Ron's shoulders trying to shake an answer out of him but it was Neville, who answered,

"They want us to join the Ministry as aurors after our success at the Battle of Hogwarts" he said proudly.

"What did you tell him?" Ginny asked Harry enthusiastically but Ron butt in,

"We're not mad, we said no of course." Everyone looked at him shocked, "Just kidding, w-we said _yes_!" then Hermione wondered why she had not been asked to be an auror, sure she _was_ going to complete her seventh year, get her N.E. and lead what will go down in history as the great house-elf revolution, but still, an offer would have been nice as all

She had no time to dwell upon this however because before she could worry about school, N.E. or platform nine and three quarters, she had an errand to run… in Australia.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Girl From Over the Hill**

The next day, Hermione woke up in Bill's (Ron's oldest brother's) old room were she had been sleeping. The room was filled with models of broomsticks with posters of all of his favorite Quidditch teams and lists of stats for the English team.

When she went downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast, greeted by Mrs. Weasley with a,

"Good morning dear, spot of breakfast?" Hermione nodded and looked at the long kitchen table and noticed that there were some empty places at it,

"Where are Harry, Ron and Ginny?" she asked.

"I think there still in bed, the lazy toads." Mr. Weasley informed her.

"Oh, well, I'll see you in a second, I just need to, um-" and her voice died away as she ran back upstairs. She went to Ginny's bedroom first (It was closest) and knocked at the door, when she heard no reply, she opened the door to see if she was there or not. She wasn't, her bed was vacant but it had been slept in as the covers were screwed up at the bottom end and there was a fresh head mark on the pillow.

She closed the door and ran up the many tiring steps leading up to Ron's attic bedroom (were Harry was also sleeping). Not bothering to knock she swung the door open with a _bang _as it hit the wall and she saw the alarmed faces of Ron, Harry, Ginny and Neville who, looking at the second camping bed, most likely slept there the previous night.

"What on earth are you doing, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" cried Ron, half angry, half amused.

"Sorry, I guess I just don't know my own strength," Hermione said apologetically, "Why aren't you down at breakfast?"

"We're discussing what it would be like being an auror," said Ginny, "We were going to invite you up but you were still asleep-"

"You just looked so peaceful I didn't want to wake-" Ron stopped after a piercing look from Ginny and his ears went as red as his hair.

"Hey guys," Neville was now talking, "Would we be able to go over the hill to see Luna later today?" Now he was red, "See, we kinda started dating after the Battle of Hogwarts and I haven't seen her since."

"Um sure, we can can't we?" said Harry and everyone in the room nodded in agreement. Then Ron came out with, "Sure we can visit Looney Lovegood."

"Don't call her that Ron!" yelled Harry.

"Okay, okay." Said Ron looking slightly mad at himself.

Then Hermione decided to tell them of her summer plans to go to Australia and find her parents.

"Wow, well we'll come with you won't we?" asked Ron

"No, I can't ask that of you besides, I haven't even planned it out yet."

After lunch the five of them apparated a couple of miles over the hill and walk the last hundred yards to Luna's house. It resembled a large chess rook and had various odd signs such as _The Quibbler Editor: X Lovegood, Pick your own Mistletoe _and_ Keep off the Dirigible Plums_. You were able to tell at first glance that it had been rebuilt after the exploding horn incident of the previous year.

Neville knocked on the door and Luna's father, Xenophilius Lovegood, answered it.

"Um, hello, um, sir, we were wondering if Luna was in and that we might be able too see her." Said Neville rather nervously.

"Oh yes Mr., what was it?" asked Xenophilius.

"Longbottom, sir, Neville Longbottom"

"Ah, yes, my Luna has mentioned you many times in the stories she has told me about the, um, DA." The DA stood for _Dumbledore's army _which was a Defense Against the Dark Arts club founded by Harry, Ron and Hermione in their fifth year at Hogwarts. "Luna is out in the garden, the garden is just through that door," he pointed a finger at a tall wooden door at the back of the circular room, "You go on Mr. Longbottom and Miss, um, Weasley, is it?" Ginny nodded, "Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter, can I have a quick word with you?" Neville and Ginny went out to the garden and Hermione sat on the sofa (pretty squished as it was a small sofa and she was sitting between Harry and Ron), "Ah, yes, make yourself comfortable, I have something I want to tell you." They were all pretty interested in what he wanted to say in front of them that he couldn't say in front of Ginny, Neville or even Luna, "I'm sorry for our last encounter and I hope, nay, I beg for your forgiveness." He was talking about the time when Harry was the undesirable number one and the death eaters imprisoned Luna, for the things that Xenophilius put in _the Quibbler_ about supporting Harry Potter, in the Malfoy's cellar and the only way to get her back would be to turn in Harry, which he did the last time they met.

"There's no need to apologize, they took your daughter." Said Hermione.

"We understand completely." Said Harry, then Ron said,

"Apology accepted." Harry and Hermione gave him scowling looks and he then came out with, "I mean that, um, we are very glad you tried to get us killed, no, no, that wasn't what I meant, what I meant was, um, um," Harry and Hermione gave him more mean looks, "um, apology accepted." Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron but Xenophilius merely smiled and shook each of there hands saying,

"Thank you, thank you!" as they went into the back garden and joined Neville, Ginny and Luna.

They had never been in Luna's garden before, it was filled with bushes which were filled with odd fruits as were the many trees that moved in and out of the bushes and one vacant space were a pond lay and Neville and Ginny were watching Luna bend over it dipping and swishing a net, her, straggly, dirty blonde hair blew in the wind.

"Hey Luna," Harry started "what are you doing exactly?"

"Oh hello Harry, Ron, Hermione, you see Daddy put this pond in over the summer, Plimpies love ponds you see, I've spent most of my time fishing for them lately." She stood up as she said this with here usual vacant expression of being somewhere accidentally, she looked as though she could just drift across the air into the pond.

Soon they were all sitting around the kitchen table drinking her father's disgusting, what they could only assume was, tea.

"So what are all of your summer plans?" asked Luna who was smacking her lips in appreciation of the tea like substance. Harry, Ron and Neville went into detail of their discussion with Kingsley and Ginny told her that she was just going to enjoy the time before she had to go back to school. Hermione had forgotten that she would be with Ginny at school this year, Ginny and Luna

"I'm going to Australia to find my parents and recover their memories." Said Hermione when the turn for her to talk came around.

"Ah, yes, me and Daddy went to Australia in one of our searches for a Crumple-Horned Snorkack when I was little," A Crumple-Horned Snorkack was a being with a horn that Luna really wanted to discover but it most likely, no, certainly, didn't exist, "We searched all over, I know the country like the back of my own hand." Said Luna closely examining her hand as she did so.

Hermione and Ron had gone to a muggle library that afternoon to find Australian phonebooks. She was hoping to find Wendell and Monica Wilkins in them somewhere so that she could limit her search a bit and not have to be running around the whole, entire country and it leading her no-where.

"I still don't understand why me and Harry can't go with you." Said Ron on the walk back to the burrow with a pile of phonebooks up to his nose (they would apparate but she was afraid of leaving the books behind by splinching them, besides, it's good for a wizard to get some exercise for once) "You and me went with Harry to find the Horcruxes and he didn't want us to."

"That's different." Said Hermione, whose books were slumped over her shoulder in a sack.

"How is it?"

"Because when we went with Harry _I _insisted that we go and when I insist it generally gets done." At this Ron gave a loud sarcastic laugh that was still audible despite the books which were completely covering his mouth.

"Well, finding my parent's will be a lot easier than finding Horcruxes, they're bigger and stay mainly in one place, plus it will be easier if we find them in the phonebooks, that is why your using all of your strength to keep up a pile of books." Retorted Hermione.

"Well I'm sorry if most of the walking _I've_ ever done isn't walking back and forth from the bloody library!" snapped Ron.

Hermione didn't want to fight with Ron, they had recovered from many, _many_ fights before but she never liked them whilst they were happening,

"Look, okay, look, this is just something that I have to do alone, I don't expect you to understand it, I don't even expect you to like it but, I have to ask that you respect it, okay?" she said calmly.

"Fine, I 'm sorry, I do, I do respect it." Ron slowly turned his head, trying not to drop the phonebooks, and kissed Hermione on the cheek, Hermione smiled and gave him a full on kiss on the lips.

"I love you." He whispered, turning back looking slightly ashamed and embarrassed. This had come as quite a shock to Hermione, this was Ron, she had had a crush on him for so long, did she love him? Of course she did!

"I love you too." She said, twisting his head around for him, now he kissed her on the lips. He moved his books to being carried in just one of his hands (with a struggle) so he could walk home with Hermione whilst holding hands.

That evening Hermione, Ron, Harry, Ginny, Neville and Luna were going through loads of Australian phonebooks in the _W _section looking for Wendell or Monica Wilkins. So far Harry had found an _M. Wilkins_, Ginny had found a _W. Wilkins_ and Luna had found a _Monica Wilkins_ (that was there most likely lead so far). They made a list of all of the possible candidates. Ron kept smiling at her every five minutes or so and Luna kept turning the page looking as though she was hoping to find something amazing on the other side.

At the end of the night they had eight possible candidates on the list and Hermione ordered them according to the probability of which were her parents, they had,

_Monica Wilkins_

_W & M Wilkins_

_Wendell. W_

_M. Wilkins _

_W. Wilkins _

_Monica. W_

_Mr. & Mrs. Wilkins_

_W. W_

And then they wrote the addresses next to them

Neville left first to go back to his grandmothers house and Luna went to see him off downstairs, then Ginny went to bed and Hermione bumped into Luna on the way to Bill's old bedroom as Luna had left her handbag in Ron's. This was the one time that she actually had a reason for being somewhere accidentally.

"Hello, are you sure you don't need any company on your trip, me and Daddy have been past most of those addresses you know." Said Luna, her dreamy eyes as vacant as ever. It wouldn't be fair to Ron if she brought Luna along, however it would help if she had someone with experience to help her get to the locations that she had never been to before. She held a small argument in her head and finally came out with,

"Okay, you can come," she said unsurely, "But you mustn't ever tell Ron, got it?" and Luna nodded and skipped up the stairs, happily as she went.


	3. Chapter 3

**A Very Looney Search**

A few mornings later Hermione was packing for Australia, the previous day she went to the wizarding library and borrowed a book about what magical beasts are in Australia, the day before she went back to the muggle library to return the phonebooks (and pay for one that Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, had torn apart) and found lots of useful seeming Australian non-fiction and survival books. She was packing them in order that she would be needing them on top of her clothes, she also packed a wizard tent she had bought (which was bigger on the inside) in her beaded bag (which was also bigger on the inside).

She went down to her last breakfast at the Burrow for a while. Mrs. Weasley had made a proper full English breakfast: bacon, sausages, eggs, hash browns, tomatoes, black pudding, toast, beans, fried bread and fried potatoes. It was all absolutely delicious, and it was nice to be with Harry and the Weasleys for one last decent meal in a while.

"What time are you leaving then?" asked Harry.

"As soon as I can, probably sometime between mid-morning and noon." She replied.

"Are you all packed then?" Ron now joined the conversation.

"Um, yes, yes I have." She said.

"Can I talk to you in private? I need to show you something." Ron said this loud enough for only Hermione to hear.

"Okay, what do you want to show m-" Hermione was already being dragged of by Ron to the living room.

"What do you need to talk to me about?" She asked a little confused.

"I've bought you something, a present," Ron pulled out a plain silver chain with a little bell fastened to it, he passed it to Hermione and she took it and examined it. "It's a charm bracelet, the bloke I bought it of said that it's supposed to bring good luck and it becomes more lucky the more charms you add to it, it's only got one charm on it at the minute." He addressed the small silver bell that was fastened to the chain.

"I love it," said Hermione, "it-it's beautiful." And it really was. She kissed Ron on the lips again, it always felt good to kiss Ron, and she really did love him. She put the bracelet on her wrist and shook it, the little bell jingled merrily

At about nine o'clock Hermione said all of her final goodbyes and apparated to Luna's house (Of course everybody thought that she had gone straight to the airport, she was taking a plane to get to Australia because it was too far to get to by apparition). She knocked on the door and Luna answered. Luna still had a vacant expression and she was wearing her butter beer cork necklace and her earrings that looked like radishes dangling from her ears.

"I'm all packed, I packed my spetrespecs in case we run in to any wrackspurts, they make your brain go all fuzzy." Hermione glared at Luna, starting to regret her decision of bringing her along. "You think I'm Looney however, that's what the people at school called me because there minds are closed to things like wrackspurts and nargles so they dismiss them."

"I think your perfectly sane Luna." Hermione lied. "You can put your trunk in my bag." Hermione held out her beaded bag and Luna stuffed her trunk in it with some severe difficulty.

"Shall we get to the airport then?" asked Hermione.

"N'ah, it takes to long see, I thought that we could travel by floo powder, I and Daddy have a fireplace." Luna's suggestion was a pretty good one; Hermione had never considered the floo network.

Hermione stepped through the threshold to Luna's house and Luna directed her to the fireplace. Luna read the first address on the list, grabbed a handful of floo powder, stepped into the fireplace, yelled out the address, sprinkled the powder and was dissolved into large, green flames. Hermione did the same and they were both in the fireplace of the home of Monica Wilkins, the only problem was, they were stuffed into an electric fireplace, then Hermione remembered why she had not considered floo powder.

"Can we apparate out?" Luna suggested Hermione was done listening to any of Luna's suggestions, besides; there was no room to spin on the spot.

"I have an idea," said Hermione, "but it's sort of risky, if the muggle sees it, but she doesn't seem to be in the room." Hermione examined the room and tried to pull her wand out of her pocket but couldn't reach it, instead she pulled out Luna's wand which was reachable, and said, "_Reducto!" _and the glass of the fireplace shattered and Hermione and Luna had just enough room to wriggle free. Hermione handed Luna her wand and whipped out her own. She pointed it at the glass on the floor and said, "_Reparo!"_ and the glass returned to its original position.

Then the doorknob of the front door twitched and Hermione whispered to Luna,

"You know where the second address is don't you," Luna nodded, "Okay hold my hand and on my signal, apparate." Luna grasped Hermione's wrist and the front door opened and Hermione said, "Now!" and Luna and Hermione apparated away. Hermione had caught a glimpse of the woman that opened the door and it wasn't her mother.

Now the two of them were standing in a small courtyard surrounded by apartment buildings.

"Oh yeah Luna, floo powder, great idea!" Hermione sarcastically snapped.

"I-I'm sorry." Said Luna in a frightened, quiet voice.

"It's okay, but it wasn't my mum who lived there, where is the next house?" asked Hermione whist putting an arm around Luna.

"It's number seven." Luna walked off up to a door to one of the apartment buildings on their left, Hermione followed and looked at the white, rectangular door with a small number seven above the peephole. There was something strange about the peephole, light kept flashing from behind it as though something was going in the way of it and retracting itself whenever Hermione or Luna looked at the door.

Hermione looked through the peephole herself and saw a wide eye blinking back at her. The door swung open, Hermione moved her head quickly as the door was inches from smacking her right in the face.

"What are you doing here, don't you know how dangerous this neighborhood is, your those wizard types, aren't you, I saw you through the peephole, you appeared as though out of thin air." Said the booming man from behind the door in an Australian accent.

"I-is th-this the residence o-of W and M W-Wilkins?" Luna asked rather nervously as the man stared up and down at them with a crazed expression on his face.

"How do you know of me, how do you know of my Wendy?" asked the man looking even crazier.

"You were in th-the ph-phonebook." Hermione answered the man.

"Ha ha!" the man laughed, "In the PHONEBOOK! HA HA HA HA HA!" the mans laugh was crazy and he probably was too.

"Yes you were in the phonebook, Mr. Wilkins, now as your wife is called Wendy then I'm guessing that you're not Wendell." Hermione tried to talk calmly to see if she could pass the calm on to the Wilkins man.

"Was." He said.

"Um, what?" asked Luna.

"The bushy one, she said that my wife _is_ called Wendy, she _was _called Wendy, she was taken in the night about a year ago by the most foul creatures imaginable and they came from your world, the wizarding world, as was my wife, ever since I've stayed away from wizards." He grumbled.

"Yes, um, right, so you're not Wendell then?" said Hermione trying to change the subject wondering if what he had just said was true or if it was just the ramblings of a crazy man.

"No, my name is Michael, now you should leave this place before nightfall, or you might be taken too." At this Michael slammed the door shut and locked it with many locks that were audible through the door.

Hermione and Luna had found a small Café just outside of the courtyard and were in there having a cappuccino each. Hermione found it quite tasty but Luna seemed to be forcing it down her throat.

"Not nearly as good as Daddy's tea." Said Luna, she took out one of her radish looking earrings and used it to stir her cappuccino, it went a reddish- purple colour and she put the earring back in her ear, the drink dripping on to her shoulder.

"Yes because that looks much better." Said Hermione trying not to judge.

Hermione pulled out the list of addresses and examined it; Luna took a glance for herself and gave a small gasp.

"What, what is it?" Hermione thought that Luna would say something about the parchment being nargle infested or something.

"The last name on the list, W. W, it's in the neighborhood that we were just in at number thirteen." Luna said and she was right too, this W. W did live just opposite from the apartment building they had just visited.

After a good sandwich and slice of cake at the restaurant they made there way back into the courtyard, past the fountain in the centre until they were at number thirteen, which was directly across from number seven. Luna knocked on the door and it soon opened, a skinny, bearded, black haired, rather pale man in a suit answered.

"What can I do for you?" he said rather sternly in a very English accent.

"Um, um, are you W. W?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, why do you ask?" said the man.

"Oh never mind, false alarm." Luna said, quite scared and she and Hermione turned away.

"Stop!" said the man, "You look lost you can come in." the man now seemed a lot warmer and friendlier.

"Have we got company dear?" said a woman who emerged next to the man, she too was pale and skinny, she had long blonde hair and was wearing an evening gown. "Why don't you two come in and make yourselves comfortable."

Hermione and Luna stepped into the house into the living room which was filled with ugly furniture with an old fireplace in it. They sat on the ugly sofa and the man sat in an ugly armchair next to it.

"Hello, I'm Wesley Witby, so what are two girls like you doing here?" asked the man.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Witby-" started Hermione.

"No please, call me Wesley." He said.

"Okay, nice to meet you Wesley, we are actually searching for…something" She finished.

"This thing you're searching for, is it something specific." He asked.

"Oh I'd say so." Said Luna who was back to her usual vacant, dreamy state.

The couple had insisted that the two of them stay for dinner, and they had some very rare steaks, and that they spend the night (Hermione had not considered finding somewhere to sleep) in the guest bedroom which was a room with two beds, you could tell that they had not been slept in for some while as they were infested with cobwebs. However the beds were comfy and the two girls drifted of faster than you can say Crumple-Horned Snorkack.

Hermione woke up in the middle of the night, except she was not in her bed, she was suspended in the air, she thought she was flying in a dream, until she realized what was really happening. Luna was next to her with a piece of cloth tied around her mouth, both of them had been chained up by the wrists in the bedroom and Hermione realized that, she too, was gagged like Luna.

The woman walked into the room and looked at Luna and Hermione's open eyes and yelled,

"Wesley, they're awake, proceed with the plan!" and the bearded man pushed a large trunk into the room,

"I'm quite proud," said the man, "I captured it my self."

"Yes, yes, we all know, let's just set it free and get the hell out of the room" his wife said.

"One sec, let's set them free too, it's always funnier if they struggle." The man came over and started to unlock the shackles that attached Hermione and Luna to the wall.

"Good plan," said the woman, "and then we'll claim their soulless bodies." The man unlocked the shackles and Hermione and Luna fell to the floor in a heap. In the confusion, the man opened the trunk and he and his wife ran out of the room. A disgusting scabbed hand emerged from the trunk.

Then the full form of a dementor flew up out of the trunk, its hand removed its hood to reveal a scabbed head with no facial features except from a mouth, it was ready to perform a kiss, it was ready to suck out their souls. Its legless body floated towards Luna and it began to suck.

Hermione whipped out her wand and thought of kissing Ron, then yelled,

"_Expecto patronum!"_ and a silver otter burst out of the tip of her wand and repelled the dementor away from Luna and the otter turned to vapor. Now the dementor was moving towards her and began to suck, Hermione thought of never being able to find her parents and never seeing Ron again. These thoughts were interrupted by a silver hare that burst right through the dementor and slammed it up against the wall, the hare, she supposed, was Luna's patronous.

Hermione thought of finding her parents and hugging them for they remember her and,

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" and the otter burst into existence, stronger than ever before, and ran along side with the silver hare and they combined to make a large silver orb that was glowing really bright and it went straight for the dementor.

It was writhing in pain, the silver orb swirling and twisting inside of it and the two girls moved their wands which caused the dementor to move with the glowing, silver orb and it sent it packing out of the window. Hermione heard a voice from out side of the door, it was the man,

"I heard a loud noise, the deed should be done by now." Him and his wife entered the room and saw that the dementor was gone and that Hermione and Luna were both holding up wands. "They ain't muggles; they're a couple of wizard kids."

"I was hoping for the dementor to suck out your soul, but your blood will taste good all the same." Said the woman and her and her husband opened their mouths to reveal large, sharp fangs. Then Hermione realized that these were the foul creatures that had claimed Wendy Wilkins, they were vampires.

"_Stupefy!"_ Yelled Luna and the man was flung against the wall and he passed out, Hermione grabbed the beaded bag and ran to the door holding Luna's hand but was blocked by the blonde vampire. Hermione then thought the word _"Levicorpus"_ and the woman was floating upside down as though her foot had been caught by a fisherman. They ran out of the room, down the stairs which lead to the living room and heard the female vampire fall to the floor with a loud thud.

Hermione looked at the fireplace and saw a pot of floo powder next to it, she grabbed the powder, as did Luna and they said the address of the third location on the list. The blonde woman burst into the room just as Hermione and Luna were dissolved into green flames.

Luckily the house of Wendell. W had a proper fireplace and Hermione fell out of it and Luna fell on top of her. The two of them got up and swept the dust off of their clothes, Hermione had just noticed the she and Luna were wearing pajamas, after all, when the vampires had chained them up they were sleeping. Unfortunately the residences were on the sofa watching some late night movie. Hermione was very surprised to see the shocked faces of her Mum and Dad looking up at her.

Hermione pulled out her wand and pointed it at her parents, she muttered an incantation and they looked rather scared. A small light appeared at the tip of Hermione's wand and silvery blue streams of light swept into her parent's heads.

"Hermione, sweetie, where are we?" her dad asked, Hermione and Luna were both glad to see that the memory was back.

"We're on holiday in Australia where you said I could bring my friend Luna along and were all staying up late to watch movies." Hermione said to her confused looking parents,

"Oh, yes, of course we are." Said Mrs. Granger. Hermione would have to tell them the truth some day, but not today, her and Luna sat on the sofa with her parents and watched movies together late into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Teddy's Christening**

Hermione had explained to her parents about modifying their memories the following morning, they seemed quite mad at first but once she had explained how she did it to protect them, they seemed all right about it. They put the house that they had been living in whilst in Australia on the market and the three Grangers and Luna were ready to return to England.

They went home by plane, it took twelve hours, they left in the early morning and arrived in the early morning. Once they arrived home the Grangers started to unpack and refill the empty house and Luna returned to her house by apparition. Hermione was glad to be able to sleep in her old room with all of her old possessions in it; she sent a patronous message to Ron saying that she was okay and that she was at home with her parents.

Hermione spent as much time as she could with her parents after that until the thirty first of July came around, Harry's birthday, and she went back to the Burrow to celebrate it with everyone. When she got there she saw a big banner across the entrance that read: _Happy 18__th__ Birthday Harry!_, and she went in to find everyone in party hats and she herself had been handed one and she carefully placed it on top of her head.

She gave Harry his present that she had had ready for a month, Harry unwrapped it to reveal a book.

"Oh, Hermione, I love it." Harry lied badly.

"Look at the cover Harry." Hermione pointed at the title of the book: _Three hundred top tips on how to be an amazing auror._

"Oh, this is great, though I doubt I can read it before we all start work tomorrow." He giggled. Hermione looked around the room and saw Harry was showing his new book to Ron and Neville, Mrs. Weasley was cooking dinner and preparing a cake with Ginny, George was handing out prank party hats that exploded into confetti when you put them on your head, Percy was looking annoyed as Luna was giving some lecture about creatures that didn't exist, Bill and Fleur were catching up with Mr. Weasley and Hagrid was in deep conversation with Charlie about dragons.

Hermione sat down at the table with Mr. Weasley, Bill and Fleur,

"Oh Hermione, I needed to see one of you," said Bill and he slid three sacks over the table with labels attached to each one, one that said _Harry_, another that said _Ron_, and the other said _Hermione._ "They're full of money." Bill continued,

"Are you paying us for something?" Hermione asked this with a slight confused expression on her face.

"No," He said, "It's all from your accounts at Gringotts for when you go to Diagon Alley, its best that you don't show your faces in there for a while after the break in incident." The incident in which Bill was referring was that when she, Harry and Ron broke into Gringotts bank to steal the cup of Hufflepuff (which was a horcrux) and ended up freeing a dragon and riding out of the bank on it's back, half destroying Gringotts in the process.

"Eezent my Bill zee sweetest." Said Fleur, or as Ginny and Hermione had come to have known her behind her back, phlegm.

The birthday dinner was delicious and once all of the people at the cramped table had finished, Mrs. Weasley brought out the cake, Hermione remembered how last year's cake had been in the shape of a giant golden snitch, but this year it was in the shape (and actual size) of a silvery stag (which was Harry's patronous). It tasted as though all of the deliciousness of Mrs. Weasleys previous meals combined. Hermione was eating the bottom half of the leg and looked around the table to Harry, Ron and Ginny. Ron was eating the other half of the leg Hermione was eating and Ginny and Harry, who had part of the head each, were snacking on the chocolate antlers.

It was starting to get late and Hermione thought she should get back to her parents,

"Goodbye everybody!" she said.

"Aren't you staying the night?" asked Ron.

"Should I be?" She had come to celebrate Harry's birthday and she had done so.

"Well it is Teddy's christening tomorrow." He said (Teddy Lupin was the half werewolf, half metamorphamagus son of Remus Lupin and Tonks who had died in the Battle of Hogwarts). "Harry's birthday's not the only reason why Charlie came in from Romania and Bill and Fleur came from Shell Cottage you know." Hermione wondered why she had not been told about this beforehand but agreed to it,

"But if Charlie's here where will I sleep?" she asked.

"You'll be in Ginny's room." Began Mrs. Weasley, she liked Ginny after all; sharing a room with her would be no problem. "In Ginny's room with Ginny and Fleur." She finished. Hermione tried to force out a smile, she had to be in a room with Phlegm.

The previous night, Hermione and Ginny couldn't sleep up due to Fleur muttering something in French in her sleep.

"I still don't understand why she's not in Bill's room, they are _married._" Ginny was telling Mrs. Weasley the next morning.

"Because I said so." Mrs. Weasley told her. Hermione noticed that the table was missing Harry and Ron but two new people were sitting at it: Andromeda (Tonks' mother) and little Teddy Lupin. Andromeda looked quite a bit like her sister, Bellatrix Lestrange, Voldemort's favorite supporter, but her eyes were less heavy lidded and she had more warmth about her, Hermione had never considered who was raising Teddy, obviously Andromeda was. Teddy just sat there smiling whilst eating some mashed up food, he had a very light layer of indigo hair which often changed its colour.

"Where are Ron and Harry?" she asked, it was Ginny who answered,

"Them and Neville left for their first day of work this morning, Percy left for work too, we're holding the christening when they get home at five thirty, Andromeda arrived with Teddy just before they left." she explained. She ate breakfast and a thought popped into her head,

"I know that Lupin and Tonks wanted Harry to be the godfather, but who will be Teddy's godmother?" Hermione asked but she realized her answer before she finished asking the question.

"I am." Said Andromeda and it now seemed obvious as she was the one who took in the baby after his parents died, Hermione thought that Harry would have agreed to raise the baby himself had it not been for his age.

It was five forty five when Harry, Ron, Neville, Mr. Weasley, Percy and Kingsley arrived fore the christening, Luna arrived a couple of minutes later, as always, she looked as though she had wondered in there accidentally. The chairs that normally sat around the kitchen table had all been arranged in the living room too face a large stone basin full of water that the priest stood next to. Everyone got seated and watched the ceremony, it was beautiful, Harry and Andromeda were called to stand with the priest as he made a water cross on teddy's forehead, his hair was now curly and burgundy.

After the ceremony everyone went for some refreshments in the kitchen, Hermione was talking to Ron about his first day.

"It was excellent," he told her, "I got my own office that I get to decorate it myself and they let us in on classified information that we aren't allowed to tell the public about dark wizards and people actually wanted _my_ opinions on things like where dark wizards might be in hiding or-" Ron was cut off by a large barn owl that burst through the window, startling everyone in the room, carrying three letters, it dropped one by Ginny, one by Luna and one by Hermione. She picked it up and saw what it said on the front:

_Hermione Granger_

_The Burrow_

_The Kitchen_

_Just outside of Ottery St. Catchpole_

Hermione was pretty sure who the letter was from and when she flipped it over to open it, the crest of the lion, the snake, the eagle and the badger confirmed it, it was from Hogwarts. She opened it to find her new list of spell books that she would have to buy, she also found an odd piece of paper at the back informing her that she would be a seventh year prefect, she gave a rather audible yelp of happiness, she looked embarrassed and hoped no-one besides Ron had heard it.

"What is it?" Ginny called and was now walking up to her.

"I'm a prefect again!" she cried.

"Wow! I'm Quidditch captain!" yelled Ginny and the two of them literally jumped for joy. They calmed down and Ginny muttered,

"Okay, I need a new keeper, a new chaser and a new seeker now that Ron, Katie Bell and Harry have left, God, where will we find a seeker as good as Harry?" she asked herself. Hermione thought who their new teachers were going to be, they're previous muggle studies teachers had been Alecto Carrow (a death eater) and Charity Burbage (who was dead), and they needed a new defense against the dark arts teacher, the ones that Hermione had known had been Quirrel (dead and had Voldemort on the back of his head), Lockhart (lost all of his memories), Lupin (resigned and now dead), imposter Mad-eye Moody (the real Moody had been locked in a trunk for nine months and is now dead), Umbridge (she was vile and took over Dumbledore's job, she quit after she had been dragged off into the forest by centaurs), Snape (originally a potions master and is now dead) and Amycus Carrow (Alecto's brother, also death eater, he turned Defense against the dark arts into dark arts) and they also needed a new transfiguration teacher now that Professor McGonagall was head mistress.

Suddenly they heard a dreamy voice call from the middle of the room, Luna,

"I'm head girl!" she yelled. Everyone stopped dead and stared at Luna in shock, George was the one to break the silence,

"Can I come to Diagon Alley with you Guys, I think it's time to reopen Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Fred would have wanted the shop to stay a float." Everyone now stared at George, after Fred's (George's twin brother) death, no-one thought that the shop would open ever again.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Return of the Joke Shop**

Hermione had stayed another night, she sent a patronous message to her parents explaining it, and she wondered how they would react to have a silver otter burst into the room with them that spoke with Hermione's voice. She was still in Ginny's room but got a better night's sleep this time around as Bill and Fleur had returned to Shell Cottage the previous evening. They had planned to go into Diagon Alley that day with George, Harry and Ron were also coming after their second day on the job as aurors.

Hermione and Ginny walked down the stairs together and saw Mrs. Weasley seeing off Charlie and telling him that he should get a haircut. She and Ginny were served some scrambled egg on toast and she began to dig in,

"Have Harry and Ron left for work already?" she asked.

"Not bloody likely." Said Ron's voice behind her, she was pleased to see Ron standing there and Ginny seemed pleased to see that Harry was standing next to him, "It's only ten to eight in the morning." Hermione looked over to the clock that had the Weasley's names instead of hands and saw that Ron's was pointed at _home._

Hermione spent the remainder of time before Ron had to go to work with him, When she had said goodbye to Ron, Ginny, who had been saying goodbye to Harry walked up to her,

"So, what d'you wanna do today?" she said, still quite tired.

"I don't know." Replied Hermione. Suddenly, someone sprang into existence mere feet away from where the two of them stood, the Weasley twin's old friend, Lee Jordan, stood there.

"Hello ladies," he said, "is there anything that I can be doing for you today?" he gave a wink and began to laugh.

"Don't forget that one of those girls is my sister and they are both to young for you." George joked, emerging out of no-where.

"As you know George, I have never turned down the needs of a lady." Continued Lee with a growing smirk on his face.

"Yeah, but that doesn't take back the fact that thousands of _ladies_ that have turned down your very presence, old friend." They both began to laugh and George greeted Lee, he turned to Hermione and Ginny and said, "Lee here is going to be helping me run Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes." This made sense as Lee Jordan had been the best friend of both Fred and George.

Hermione, Ginny, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, George and Lee were all entering the Leaky Cauldron, a pub in London that had the entrance to Diagon Alley round the back. As they walked through the dingy pub, Hermione noticed that her old classmate, Hannah Abbott, Hufflepuff, appeared to be working there as a bar tender due to the fact that she was wearing an apron and that she was pouring drinks behind the bar. They went round the back and stood facing a brick wall, Mr. Weasley tapped a specific brick with his wand and a grand archway appeared within the bricks to reveal Diagon Alley.

It was once again booming, Hermione saw crowds of people wondering around in and out of the many shops such as Madame Malkin's Robes for all Occasions, Eeylopes Owl Emporium and Ollivander's Wand Shop. At the end of the alley Gringotts Wizarding Bank was visible, it had been rebuilt just as polished and impressive as it had been before Hermione, Ron and Harry rode a blind dragon through it.

Luckily Hermione had that money from Bill so she didn't need to go in there; Ginny and her parents went in its direction but Hermione, George and Lee went in the direction of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. It looked quite neglected and it was completely deserted.

"Well there it is George." Said Lee,

"In all of its glory." George finished for him.

"Wow, it looks so, cold." Said Harry who was with Ron behind her, she hugged Ron and Harry asked, "Where's Ginny?"

"She's in Gringotts." Hermione informed him.

"Ah," he began, "best not go in there, I've been meaning to get a new broom, I think that I'll go and get a new one" and Harry ran off. George and Lee entered the abandoned shop and Ron began to follow,

"Coming in?" he asked her,

"N'ah, I'm off to Madame Malkin's." She said, Ron went into the joke shop and Hermione made her way back up the street to Madame Malkin's Robes for all Occasions.

When she entered the shop she saw Madame Malkin altering the robes of Luna, and her father was next to them staring intently at the robes and seeing how it looked with the head girl badge pinned to it.

"We'll be taking these ones." Xenophilius told Madame Malkin.

"Oh Hello Hermione." Said Luna who had now noticed Hermione standing at the door and was stepping off of the pedestal where Madame Malkin and Mr. Lovegood had been examining her Ravenclaw robes, Hermione saw the badge that Luna was wearing on her collar with the letters _HG_ inscribed upon it.

"Oh hi Luna." Said Hermione trying to sound friendly.

"I wonder what it will be like being head girl; surely it'll feel quite odd to have an authority over people." Luna gave a smile and swayed about in her robes.

"It's not that odd." Hermione had been a prefect at Hogwarts during her fifth and sixth year at Hogwarts, "Its easy enough just to give detentions or confiscate items from someone who's misbehaving badly."

"I don't know if I would like to punish those who are bad," Luna's dreamy eyes glinted, "I would prefer to reward those who are exceptionally good."

Hermione had bought all of the robes she needed and started to walk to the book shop where she bumped into Harry on the way who was holding a broomstick, it was very sleek, shiny and well varnished, the brush end was perfectly neat and brisk and was attached to the brooms body by elegant golden bands.

"It's the new Lightning bolt, they say it's the faster, remake of the Firebolt, I doubt it, I would have gone with the Firebolt but there were none in stock" Harry turned the handle to reveal a golden calligraphy inscribed on it that said_ Lightning Bolt. _"Where are you headed?" he asked,

"To the book shop." She told him.

"Okay, I'll meet you later, I'm of to Eeylopes." And the two of them set off in different directions.

Hermione had all of her books and school equipment easily fitted into her beaded bag, she returned to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes were she saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Harry, Ron, George, Lee and Ginny in there, when she entered she noticed that Mrs. Weasley and Ron were debating about something, She heard Mrs. Weasley yell,

"You've only just started proper work!" and Ron come back with,

"It's only part time!" Hermione walked up to Ginny,

"What's going on?" she asked.

"George offered Ron a part time job at the shop; Mum doesn't like it as you might have guessed." Ginny sniggered.

"Nice broom." Said Hermione who had spotted that Ginny was holding a new broom, to be honest she didn't know whether or not it was a good broom, Hermione's Quidditch knowledge was strictly limited.

"Thanks, it's a Nimbus two thousand and five; Mum got it for me for making team captain." Ginny held it up so Hermione could examine it; it was a bit scruffier than Harry's new broom.

"You'll have all of the same perks as prefects get you know, because your Quidditch captain." Hermione informed her.

"I know, I'm so excited." Ginny now had a huge grin on her face. They now heard George hush everyone up and begin to speak,

"I now declare that Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes officially reopened!" everyone in the shop cheered.

Hermione walked over to Harry and Ron and noticed that Harry had the talons of a small, snowy owl wrapped around his forearm, balancing upon it.

"Apparently he's Hedwig's nephew." He said, Hedwig had been a Snowy owl that Harry owned for over six years but was shot with an Avada Kedavra curse and died. He chirped merrily on Harry's arm,

"Pig will be well happy that he's not the smallest owl in the house anymore." Said Ron, Pigwidgeon, or Pig, was Ron's owl that Ginny had named.

"Yeah, but Pigwidgeon is fully grown and he's only a toddler." Said Hermione, staring into the owls yellow, slit eyes.

"I still don't get why Ginny can come along and name _my_ owl a stupid name like Pigwidgeon but she gets a pygmy puff and names it Arnold." Ron complained.

"Have you thought of a name for him yet Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, I thought that I would name him Ron." He said.

"_Really?_" Hermione and Ron both asked in unison.

"Oh God no," Harry chuckled, "no, I'm going to name him Snuffles, after Sirius, sort of." Snuffles was the name that they referred to Sirius as in there letters to him so that the Ministry wouldn't know it was him should they intercept the letter. The bird chirped merrily again.

When Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione left the store, they saw Luna walking up to them with a Border collie walking along side her.

"Do you like him, he's really friendly, Daddy bought him for me for making head girl." She stroked it with her dreamy eyes still fixed upon them.

"Do Hogwarts even let you have dogs?" asked Ginny.

"I'm sure that they will, I've named him Newt you know, after the famous naturalist, Newt Scamander, well, obviously you know who he is." She said.

"Of course, that Newty, yeah." Said Ron in a mocking tone that Luna did not receive.

"It's Newt, they say that the Border collie is an intelligent breed of dog, he'll be perfect for Ravenclaw." She skipped off and rejoined her dad.

They bought the rest of the school things that they needed for school and returned to the Burrow without George and Lee. As they walked back through the Leaky Cauldron, Hermione waved to Hannah Abbott who was behind the bar still, she hid her face, trying to hide her identity, she probably didn't want her school friends to know that she was working as a Bar Tender.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Prefect's Cabin**

The rest of Hermione's summer holiday was spent with her parents until finally the first of September (the day Hogwarts starts) came around. Hermione had journeyed to Kings Cross station and met Harry, Ron, Ginny, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Harry and Ron had come to see off Ginny and Hermione. They all ran at the barrier between platform nine and ten and appeared on platform nine and three quarters, the great scarlet steam engine of the Hogwarts Express stood there puffing smoke out of it's funnel.

Ron walked Hermione over to a slightly more private section of the platform,

"I wanted to give you this before you left to add to your charm bracelet." Ron pulled out a tiny silver book, "this is meant to give you luck in your exams." He said and Hermione fastened the tiny book to her bracelet and it joined the little bell.

"Thanks, I'm going to miss you." Hermione kissed Ron, "I love you"

"I love you too, I'll see you at Christmas." He waved goodbye to Hermione as she got on to the train.

She was looking for a cabin on the train with Crookshanks in her arms until she remembered that prefects go to the prefect's cabin to get debriefed by the head boy and girl. On her way she bumped into a small, mousy haired boy, fifth year, and he was in Gryffindor wearing a prefects badge on his collar and he toppled over.

"Um, sorry, I didn't mean to, it's just that I…" he had trouble getting the words out.

"There's no need to apologize, it was my fault, were going to the same place, let's walk together." Hermione held out a hand and helped him up, he picked up his trunk and they walked, "I'm Hermione Granger by the way, you are?"

"Um, um, I-I'm Dennis, Dennis Crevey." Hermione then remembered who he was and that his older brother, Colin, had died in the Battle of Hogwarts, she thought it best not to bring that up.

They eventually reached the prefect's cabin; it was larger than usual cabins and had more seats that were all comfier than the rest on the train, Hermione took a seat next to the window and was next to some Hufflepuff girl. She saw Ron waving at her, she waved back, blew a kiss, and the train began to move away from the platform.

Luna sat in one of the two biggest chairs next to a Gryffindor boy who Hermione presumed was head boy.

"Hello prefects," began Luna's dreamy voice, "Welcome back, I hope that you are all doing well, I would like to talk to you about they way in which we handle discipline, first of all I would like to tell you that I don't think we should confiscate items as the student who owns it probably spent a lot of hard earned money on it and it seems unfair to take it away from them."

"But confiscation isn't unfair if the said stunt is using said item inappropriately." Said a Ravenclaw boy.

"I agree with him Luna." Said the head boy.

"Second of all I would like to bring up the idea of not handing out detentions," Luna carried on, "I think that if someone does good, we should give them a present like some spetrespecs or a nargle branch." Everyone looked at her and started yelling things, Hermione just stayed quiet as Luna was her friend and she didn't want to insult her ludicrous ideas.

"Silence!" yelled the head boy, "Yes we shall confiscate items if they are being inappropriately used, stuff their hard earned money if they can't act responsibly, yes we will give out detentions to those who deserve it and we certainly won't give them bloody spictraspocsor a naggle bushes if they do good, we already have a system for rewarding very good behavior, alright!" everyone nodded in agreement. Luna conjured up the courage to talk,

"I also thought that we could have Halloween, Christmas and Valentine dances throughout the year were people can ask other people to go and there'll be music and dancing and decorations." Everyone considered the idea.

"Dance is good." declared the head boy.

Hermione had gotten out of the cabin once they were told what was to be expected of them this year and found a cabin with Ginny and a girl who looked familiar sitting in it, she slid open the door and sat down, Ginny had Arnold the Pygmy Puff on her shoulder, it was basically a purple ball of fur with eyes, a nose, a mouth and feet. The girl had long black hair that was silvery blonde at the tips, dark blue eyes and she was in Gryffindor in her seventh year.

"Hermione this is Demelza Robins, she's a fellow chaser on the Quidditch team." Said Ginny, that was were Hermione recognized her from, she must have seen her in a Quidditch match,

"Hi." Said Demelza in quite a friendly voice, she held out a hand and Hermione shook it, "So, d'you think you'll try out for Quidditch this year?"

"Oh God no," Demelza looked slightly offended when Hermione said this, "It's not that I don't like Quidditch, I'm just not very good at it." that was an overstatement; Hermione was truly awful on a broom.

Once the trolley lady had been past, the three of them were sitting amongst a small mountain of sweets.

"So Ginny, when are you gonna be holding tryouts." Asked Demelza through a chocolate frog.

"I don't know," replied Ginny opening a box of Berty Botts Every Flavor Beans, "You needn't worry, you were already on the team, I'm keeping all of the old team on, I just need a chaser, a keeper and a seeker."

"I just hope that Zacharias Smith isn't commentating the games anymore." Said Hermione.

"I hope that Looney Lovegood does it again, that time was hilarious." Said Demelza.

"Don't call her that, she's actually very nice." Pleaded Ginny. Then Hermione told them what had happened in the prefect's cabin.

The three of them were enjoying good laughs all the way to Hogsmeade station, they were now dressed in their school robes,

"Need some help?" Ginny asked Hermione because she was struggling to squeeze out her trunk which was wedged in.

"No, you two go on without me." She said. Demelza and Ginny left the cabin with Arnold and Crookshanks. Hermione finally managed to pull out her trunk and went out of the compartment door; she saw that the train was empty, apart from a squeaky voice that greeted her,

"Saw you laughing in there with your mates Granger, bet you were laughing about the death of my brother, who _you, _Weasley and Potter killed." Said a squat, ugly, Slytherin girl.

"I'm sorry, who's your brother who I supposedly murdered?" Hermione was confused by the girl's accusations.

"Oh you know, you and your friends _murdered _Vincent." She said, her face got angrier and scrunched up.

"Vincent? Vincent? Who is-" Hermione tried to ask.

"You know, Crabbe!" Crabbe was a Slytherin boy who was one of Draco Malfoy's body guards; he started a cursed fire in the room of requirement and burned to death.

"Now, now, now," Hermione began, "Your brother was responsible for his own-" The girl fired a curse at Hermione that was quickly dodged, and another, and another.

"_Stupefy!"_ yelled Hermione and the girl fell backwards.

"You'll pay for that one you bitch, _Crucio!" _she yelled, the curse hit Hermione and she felt a jolt of searing pain like a thousand knives were stabbing her in the back at once.

The girls concentration was broken by a jolt, the train was preparing to move. Hermione got to her feet and yelled,

"_Impedimenta!" _the girl tripped, the train began to move, "_Reducto!" _the door exploded and Hermione jumped out the hole in the wall were the door once was and landed on the surface of Hogsmeade station. The train left the station with the Crabbe girl on it, "_Reparo." _A small jet of light fired out of Hermione's wand and she saw the train door repair as it traveled further into the distance.

She had missed the carriages; she would have to walk all the way up to Hogwarts. Then she saw that someone else was on the platform, Luna Lovegood, with Newt the dog on a lead

"You dropped your prefect's badge in the prefect's cabin; I thought that I would wait for you so that I could return it." Hermione felt her collar and realized that there was no badge there, Luna handed it to her and she pinned it to her robes.

Hermione and Luna were walking up to the castle; they were halfway there when they were joined by a balding, ginger man with horn- rimmed glasses,

"Mr. Weasley, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked.

"I'm the new muggle studies teacher, I wanted it to be a surprise and now I'm late for the feast." He explained.

When the three of them entered the great hall, Mr. Weasley went off to join the staff table; Luna went to join the Ravenclaw table and Hermione, the Gryffindor, opposite to Ginny and Demelza, Crookshanks moved to purr on top of Hermione's feet.

"Why is my dad going up to the staff table?" asked Ginny seeming concerned.

"Oh, he's the new muggle studies teacher." Said Hermione and Ginny went more red than her own flaming hair.

McGonagall stood up were Dumbledore used to stand and began speaking,

"Before we begin our feast, I would like to introduce some new faces to the staff this year, first of all the new muggle studies teacher, Professor. A. Weasley," she gestured a hand to Mr. Weasley, he stood, everyone clapped and quite a few people stared at Ginny, she went even redder, Mr. Weasley sat back down, "our new defense against the dark arts teacher, Professor. D. Ruperts," a fairly young woman with many scars on her face and long faint red hair now stood, another round of applause broke out and Hermione heard people talking,

"Is that _Danielle _Ruperts?" someone said, "The auror?" Hermione had no idea whether or not this woman was an auror, it was a safe assumption due to her scars, despite the scars, she was quite a beautiful woman, the applause broke and she sat down.

"And last but not least," McGonagall continued, "Our new transfiguration teacher, Professor. A. Dumbledore." Everyone looked astonished and confused, but it was not the Dumbledore that everyone knew and loved who stood up, although he resembled him very much, it was Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth. He got less applause and soon sat back down, McGonagall yelled, "Let the feast begin!" plates full of every food imaginable appeared on the table, and everybody started to eat.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Three New Teachers**

The next day at breakfast Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table with Ginny and Demelza, McGonagall was walking around all of the tables handing out sheets of parchment as she went. When Hermione was handed a sheet, she picked it up and looked at it, it was her new timetable. She looked over at the Friday row and saw that she had double transfiguration followed by muggle studies followed by double defense against the dark arts.

"They made me have all of the new teachers in one day." She told Demelza and Ginny.

"I've got muggle studies after double transfiguration; I have to have a lesson with my dad." Cried Ginny.

"I've got the same." Said Demelza.

"Well you would do, I take all of the classes apart from divination and care of magical creatures, so that's probably the only lesson that you won't see me in because I'll have ancient runes or arithmancy." She told them.

"I wish that I hadn't of decided to take divination, I thought it would be an easy outstanding because all you have to do is predict your own death most of the time, but still, at least I've got Firenze instead of that old fraud this year." Said Ginny, the other two laughed.

After they had finished breakfast the three of them made there way to McGonagall's old classroom, they saw about eleven other seventh years there, Luna was amongst them, and they sat at their desks. Soon enough Aberforth came walking into the room and up to the front,

"Now class," he said in a voice similar to Dumbledore's, "To avoid any confusion you shall not address me as Professor Dumbledore, for those of you who know me after the portrait hole in the hogs head, you may call me Aberforth, the rest will address me as Professor D, alright." There was a general nod around the room, "Now class today you will be learning about metamorphamagi, please turn your textbooks to page two hundred and forty seven, now can somebody please tell me the difference between a metamorphamagus and an animagus?" as usual Hermione's hand was the first to shoot up into the air, though she knew that Ginny and Luna must know the answer after meeting Tonks, "Yes, Miss Granger?"

"An animagus is a wizard who can transfigure into no more than one animal whereas a metamorphamagus can change any aspect of there appearance at will." She explained.

"Very good Miss Granger, ten points to Gryffindor." He said. "Now today I want you to practice some of the things that a metamorphamagus must go through during their many years of training, unless they are the lucky few to be born one." They really did go through many years of training as the section in the book about becoming a metamorphamagus was twenty pages long.

Later on in the lesson they were told to practice changing each others appearances to their own using wands, by the end of the lesson Ginny had become an exact copy of Hermione and changed back again whereas Hermione had ginger bits of hair and eyes that were different shades of brown to each other, it had to be Aberforth who changed her back to normal. Luna's hair had been partially blackened by Demelza. Everyone returned to their seats before the end of the lesson,

"Now I want you to study and practice the methods of becoming a metamorphamagus because during your transfiguration N.E.W.T you will be asked to change some aspect of your appearance and change it back again exactly as it was before." Aberforth told them before he dismissed them for break time.

During break Hermione and Ginny sat down on a bench in the transfiguration courtyard,

"I do not want to go into that class room, it'll be mortifying, why did I take muggle studies?" Ginny was complaining about her dad being a teacher.

"I'm sure he won't be that bad." Said Hermione but Ginny seemed not to hear her,

"And he doesn't even know anything about muggles." It was true; Mr. Weasley's knowledge of muggles was as limited as Hermione's knowledge of Quidditch.

When they got to the muggle studies classroom there was only about five other people there, of course, none of them were Slytherins (who all hated muggles). Everyone sat down at their desks and Mr. Weasley stood up at the front,

"Hello, um, class, I-I'm Professor W-Weasley," you could tell he was nervous, "T-today we'll be l-looking into th-the w-world of elctri-tricity," he reached into a box and pulled out a plug, Hermione looked over at Ginny who was bright red in the cheeks and a couple of Hufflepuff girls sniggering at her. "Today I w-want you to take apart a pl-plug with a screwdriver and try t-to fix it a-all b-back together again." He was stumbling over fewer words and now was going around the desks handing out plugs and screwdrivers.

Hermione found this task quite easy as she grew up in the muggle world and had changed many fuses in her time, other people however seemed to be severely struggling.

"No wands." Mr. Weasley had spotted Demelza trying to force out her screws using magic. At the end of the lesson they had some very mangled plugs, Hermione's was the only one that finished how it had started, Luna fitted the casing together but didn't put in any of the wires inside it, Demelza had cracked hers trying to pull out the screw and Ginny did something odd with the wires that gave her a small electric shock.

"Now for homework I would like you to have a foot long essay on what muggles use electricity for and why they do it." Everyone left the class slightly annoyed that they had received homework on the first day but this could be one of the easiest essays that Hermione had ever done.

They went to the great hall for lunch,

"It wasn't that bad." Hermione was telling Ginny.

"I suppose not but people in the class are a bit annoyed with me because my dad gave out homework on the first day." She said.

"Yeah but it's an easy essay just writing about what electricity is used for." Hermione tried to comfort her.

"For you, you were raised by muggles, today was the first time I've ever seen a ploog." Demelza cut in.

"A _plug _you mean?" said Hermione, she had forgotten how wizards didn't know simple muggle objects like a plug or the idea of using electricity.

"What have we got next?" asked Ginny.

"Defense against the dark arts." Said Hermione.

Professor Ruperts' classroom was decorated with scary looking rag dolls hanging from the ceiling and broomsticks in cases on the walls. She stood at the front in wavy, lilac robes,

"Good afternoon kids," she spoke in a kind, gentle voice, "Please don't take your seats, we'll be active this lesson, okay, I want you all to move into an open space with a partner, one person will run at the other and the other person will have to stop them, take it in turns, house points to whoever uses the most interesting spell." The class spread out, Hermione was with Luna, she saw people using simple spells and then she thought of a spell that was not known to many people, Luna ran at her and Hermione thought _"Levicorpus." _And Luna flew into the air.

Professor Ruperts walked up to her and said,

"Very good, miss?"

"Granger."

"Very good Miss Granger, twenty points to Gryffindor, and I don't think I heard an incantation, another ten points for using a non-verbal spell." She said. After half an hour of stunning, disarming and tripping, Professor Ruperts called in all of the students. "Now, being an auror, you work with lots of dementors, can anybody tell me how you ward off dementors?"

"A patronous charm." Said Luna.

"Yes, five points to Ravenclaw, the patronous charms wards off dementors, they are hard to produce, you must think of the happiest memory you can and say the incantation _expecto patronum, _now producing a patronous charm is not compulsory for your N.E. but it will earn you several extra marks which is why I want you to spent the rest of the lesson practicing them.

This was going to be easy, in the DA Hermione learned how to make a patronous charm, she knew Luna did to and was pretty sure that Ginny did, she whipped out her wand, thought of Ron, and said,

"_Expecto patronum!" _a silvery otter burst out of Hermione's wand and it was soon joined by a silver hare which she knew was Luna's patronous and a silver horse which she saw Ginny casting.

"Incredible, absolutely incredible, a full body patronous on the first go, forty points to Gryffindor and twenty points to Ravenclaw." Said Professor Ruperts.

For the rest of the lesson Hermione saw a lot of silver vapor coming out of peoples wands that soon evaporated, though Demelza did manage to form a silver shield for a few seconds.

"Now class, I would like you to practice a couple of non-verbal spells and for some extra credit you can practice producing a patronous, see you later." Professor Ruperts dismissed them.

"I quite like her, she seems nice." Luna was telling Hermione on the way out of the classroom.

"Yeah, she seems it." Replied Hermione.

A week later, after they had had four defense against the dark arts lessons, they were in the dormitory and Demelza was practicing making a patronous,

"Yes, yes, I held the shield for a whole minute!" everyone in the dormitory gave a clap, that included Hermione, Ginny, Mindy Mantis, Jacqueline Mitchell and Griselda Withers.

"Yeah great." Said Griselda,

"Only took you, what, three hours?" said Mindy,

"Now can we get some sleep please?" said Jacqueline.

"Well _sorry_." Retorted Demelza. She got changed into her pajamas and went to bed, as did the rest of the dormitory. Crookshanks jumped up onto Hermione's bed and fell asleep on her head, waking her up. She moved the cat to the feet end of the bed and saw Demelza standing there wither wand out whispering,

"_Expecto patronum." _And Hermione swore that she saw a fully formed, silvery bat fly out of the end for a few seconds before it dissolved into silver vapor.

"YES, I DID IT!" yelled Demelza waking up everyone in the dormitory.

"Louder, please, I think that Hagrid might not of heard you all the way out in his cabin." Said Ginny looking very tired, "now go to sleep!"

"Whatever, I produced a full body patronous." Demelza looked very pleased with herself,

"It's true, I saw it, it's a bat." Said Hermione,

"Who cares, go to sleep!" said Mind. This time Demelza actually did go to bed, you could tell she was asleep because of her snoring, Hermione had Crookshanks fall asleep on her head again and went to sleep, every time she breathed in she got a mouth full of ginger cat hair.


	8. Chapter 8

**A Leather Bound Cake**

It was a few weeks after the patronous in the dormitory incident and it was also Hermione's nineteenth birthday. She sat up on the bed that morning and found a pile of presents at the end of her bed, first she tore into the gift from Harry, and it was a book entitled _Three hundred top tips for passing your N.E.; _she laughed and put it on her pillow. Then she opened a gift from Demelza, this was a toy broomstick, much smaller than an actual broom, with a small note attached to it that said: _To train you up from the very beginning. _She added this to the pile and found a gift sent from her parents (she was surprised it had arrived as her parents weren't very good with the owl postage system) She unwrapped it to find a set of dress robes, the cloak was purple with golden rims and had golden stars stitched on to it, the gown was long and onyx in colour, it had the word _Hermione_ written in golden stitching across the top and it came with polished, purple high-heel shoes.

Then she got to her gift from Ginny, it was an antique rag doll with black bunches and a navy blue wizard's hat and robes with a tiny broom stitched into her hand as though she was holding it. From Neville she got some chocolate frogs and a box of Berty Botts Every Flavor Beans, from Mrs. Weasley she got a box of homemade fairy cakes and from Luna she had received a basket full of dirigible plums, gurdyroots and all other unnamable fruits. Then she got to George and Lee's present which was a box, Hermione opened it to find a ball of cyan fur with eyes, a nose, a mouth and feet, it was a Pygmy Puff. She saw that it had a tag on its toe, she removed it and read it: _This is a female Pygmy Puff before you try to look and it goes by the name of Zelda, she was picked on by the other pygmy puffs because of it's unusual colour, but we knew that wouldn't matter to you, anyway here you go._ She picked it up and placed it out of the reach of Crookshanks, next to Arnold the Pygmy Puff who was owned by Ginny, she was still asleep and Arnold and Zelda jumped for joy in each other's company.

She was surprised to see a gift from Aberforth which was six bottles of butterbeer from the Hog's Head (which was a pub in Hogsmeade) and was even more surprised to see a card from Professor Ruperts with a picture of an otter diving into a lake on the front telling her that she was best in the class and wishing her a happy birthday. From Hagrid she got a snow globe with a hippogriff drawn carriage inside it and when you shook it the hippogriffs took flight with the carriage and flew around the globe with snow falling on them.

She had saved Ron's gift for last purposefully because she assumed that it would be the best one. She tore off the wrapping paper to reveal two books; one was a book of traditional wizarding fairy tales with stories that were not in _The Tales of Beedle the Bard _and the other was a scrapbook with pictures of Hermione and her friends and mainly pictures of Hermione and Ron together. There was also a stuffed bear hugging a stuffed unicorn, a badly written love letter and two charms, one was a small silver candle and the other; a small silver otter. She fastened the two charms to her bracelet so they joined the book and the bell.

Hermione spent most of the morning flying a foot off of the floor around the Gryffindor common room on her toy broomstick from Demelza. She was now walking on her way to Hagrids cabin with Ginny, Luna and Demelza,

"So, Ginny, when are you holding tryouts?" asked Demelza,

"I don't know, sometime soon, I'll hold it off longer if you keep on bugging me about it." Snapped Ginny.

"I've always found Quidditch to be a bit to violent for my taste." Said Luna,

"What do you know, Looney?" Demelza looked quite angry.

"Don't call her that!" yelled Ginny at Demelza,

"Sorry, sorry Lun_a_." Demelza said this through gritted teeth,

"It's okay, lots of people think I'm Looney, I'm sure that they're nice at heart, like you Demmy." Luna was vacantly walking.

"It's Demelza, not Demmy." Said Demelza.

"Oh, I apologize, Demelza, did you enjoy your gifts Hermione?" asked Luna,

"Yes," she replied, "thanks for the…fruit."

"I heard that if you take a bite out of the machalgaberry at midnight whist wearing a goblin made item and spin around fifty times, you'll be able to see the ghosts of fairies." She said.

"Right, then I will be sure to do that." Hermione tried to sound truthful and Luna seemed to buy it.

They got to Hagrid's wooden cabin and knocked on the door, the gigantic form of Hagrid answered it,

"'Ello Hermione, I see tha' you've brought a couple o' friends with yeh, not ter worry, there's enough tea and treacle toffee fer all o' yeh." They entered the small cabin and saw fang the boarhound lying down in his basket. They sat around the cramped table and were served tea and treacle toffees, nobody spoke for a while because the toffees cemented their mouths shut, Hagrid was the first to swallow and speak,

"Buckbeak. oh, I mean Witherwings-"

"Hagrid, you don't have to call him Witherwings any more, the papers ordering his execution were all torn up, besides, Kingsley's the minister now, he would never have Buckbeak killed." Hermione explained.

"Yeah, I suppose not, anyhow, Buckbeak's doin' jus' fine, 'ow are Harry and Ron?" he asked.

"They're fine." Hermione said whilst taking a sip from her tea, "So what are you teaching in care of magical creatures?"

"Well he's teaching my class about acromantulas." said Luna

"Tha's righ', an' now tha' I know tha' Buckbeak is safe, I can show 'im to the third years" He said rather happily. "Anyway, enough abou' tha', 'appy birthday, 'ow 'as yer day bin?"

"It's been fine, thanks for the snow globe." Said Hermione,

"Grea', don' tell anyone tha' I charmed it though." He said,

"Again, Hagrid, Kingsley's the minister now, he's allowing you to do magic." Germione told him,

"Grea'!" he grabbed his pink umbrella and started doing spells, one of which made all of the furniture dance around, they all laughed and fang was startled when his basket began to dance.

After some tea and some awful rock cakes, the five of them were in Buckbeak's pen patting, when Hermione stroked his beak he bent down,

"I think 'e wants yeh ter ride 'im." Said Hagrid, "Yeh know what, jus' this once, I'll allow it, after all, it is yer last birthday at Hogwarts." Before Hermione had time to decline this offer, Hagrid was already lifting her up on to Buckbeak's back.

"No Hagrid, I really don't think tha-" she tried to tell him but Buckbeak had already broken into a run. He took of with Hermione on his back and she looked down to see Ginny, Luna, Demelza and Hagrid waving at her, she would have waved back if she wasn't scared of letting go and falling to her death.

She flew across the high points of Hogwarts and saw all of the students below and saw that they were all staring up at her. After she got over the feeling of complete and utter fear, there was something quite liberating about soaring through the sky with her bushy hair blowing in the wind. She was able to steer him, flying in and out of towers and doing a lap of the black lake. She plummeted towards the lake and flew suddenly upwards and over the forbidden forest, she saw the trees below and a thestral started to fly along side her.

It followed her back to Hagrid's hut were she landed Buckbeak in his pen and the thestral landed in it to.

"Well, how was it?" Demelza was quick to find out.

"How high did you go?" asked Ginny,

"It was great," said Hermione, "I went way above the height of the astronomy tower." (this was the tallest tower in the school) Demelza and Ginny seemed very impressed, Hagrid was feeding Buckbeak some dead ferrets and Luna was patting the thestral that refused to leave.

Hermione spent the rest of the day in the library doing some homework, which sounds boring, but was _the_ best experience for Hermione. After she finished it all she took out a few books and spent the next few hours reading a book entitled, _The History of Wizarding Slavery, _typically they mentioned how wrong it was to enslave people but it was perfectly alright to enslave house elves. Hermione wished that more people would take an interest in S.P.E.W (society for the promotion of elfish welfare) or that more elves would be like Dobby, who got wages, sick leave, holidays, wore clothes and wanted to be freed from his old family (the Malfoys).

Hermione later returned to the Fat Lady's corridor and walked up to her,

"Password?" she asked,

"Habigus herbopcus." Hermione replied and the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open to reveal the hole that lead to the Gryffindor common room. She climbed through it and was surprised to see that it was pitch black.

Suddenly the lights flew on and Hermione was greeted by many voices that yelled,

"SURPRISE!" she was startled and gave a small scream that turned into a laugh, all of the Gryffindors were there wearing party hats with bottles of butterbeer in their hands. She saw quite a few decorations including a banner that read: _Happy Birthday,_

"So, surprised?" asked Ginny,

"Yeah." She replied.

"I think we should cut the cake!" Demelza yelled and everyone cheered, "Hermione, will you do the honors?" Hermione was passed a knife and looked down at the cake, it was in the shape of a book that said: _To the Oldest Student in the School. _Then Hermione realized for the first time that she _was _the oldest student in the school, she cut out a corner with the knife and took a bite,

"It's good!" she yelled and everyone cheered again.

Everyone stayed up very late that night, it was very enjoyable, and Hermione danced and mingled and drank a fair amount of firewhiskey. By the time it was four o'clock in the morning, Hermione thought she should go to bed. She found her bed and immediately collapsed on it; before she dozed off she saw the Pygmy Puffs, Arnold and Zelda, dancing together to the music that was coming from downstairs in the common room.

A few minutes later Hermione was woken up by Ginny stumbling into bed, she had had a lot of firewhiskey,

"H-hey Hermine, 'ow are you, you-you know what, i-it's your B-day an' that's great because I-I love you man I-I'm serious man, I-I lovvvv-" she then collapsed on the floor right beside her bed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Some New Members of S.P.E.W**

In late September, Hermione, Ginny and Demelza were relaxing in the common room after a full day of lessons, in herbology they had to defeat pots full of devils snare and explore ways of how it can be helpful to people, in charms they had to levitate a feather, a brick and a large anvil, in potions they had to make a perfect sleeping draught, in astronomy they had to memorize constellations of stars that would show up in their N.E. and in ancient runes Hermione had to start translating a poem whist Ginny and Demelza were in divination learning about how to predict horoscopes using the stars and planets. Needless to say, they were all pretty exhausted.

"I just want to go to bed but I have to revise." Moaned Ginny,

"I know what you mean," started Demelza, "We've been working like house elves." Hermione gave her a scorching look,

"I doubt you've been working that hard seeing that wizards haven't enslaved your family for centuries!" she cried,

"I'm sorry, what?" Demelza looked puzzled, Ginny answered,

"Hermione doesn't believe in house elf enslavement."

"Why not?" asked Demelza, "They're perfectly happy with-"

"They are not happy, they just don't know that they're not happy, besides, some house elves aren't happy and just pretend to be to avoid beatings, take Dobby for instance!" Hermione raised her voice louder.

"Who's Dobby?" asked Demelza looking slightly scared,

"Only the smartest, bravest elf that ever existed, the first elf that got paid and holidays and clothes, if only they had taken the clothes that I left out for them." A few years ago Hermione had knitted hats for house elves to find and be freed but none of them did. "You know what, I think that I'm going to go and knit some right now." She went off upstairs.

Hermione had knitted many items of clothing and hidden them around the common room. She was pleased that she had a free period before lunch. First she had ancient runes and she spent an hour finishing translating the poem from the previous day and then had to write their own poem and translate it into runes. Next she had arithmancy, they were finding out their family name numbers, Hermione's was seven which meant, _You inherit a desire for knowledge, you value learning, and you respect quality, facts, and theories, as well as a need for spiritual understanding. Your family traits will be those of observation, analysis, perfectionism, and the desire for privacy._

Hermione spent her free period studying in the great hall and Demelza sat opposite her,

"I'm sorry; I didn't know that you felt so strongly about house elves." She said,

"Well I do," said Hermione, "and apology accepted." They smiled and then they saw Luna crying beside them,

"I just love it when friends make up." She sobbed, "What do you mean, you feel strongly about house elf enslavement?" she dried her tears,

"Yes, I do, I did start S.P.E.W but I only ever got two members, Harry and Ron, and that's only because I made them join." She explained.

"I've never really thought much of house elf enslavement, would it be alright if I join?" asked Luna,

"Yes, of course, I'll give you your badge later." Hermione was happy that someone finally took an interest in the freeing of house elves.

"Great," said Luna, "I can make it an official school club, I'll put the details on the notice boards, goodbye." And she skipped away.

Lunch soon stated and Ginny came and sat with Hermione and Demelza, her robes covered in mud,

"I just had care of magical creatures and we had to inspect the patterns of the mud when gnomes have burrowed into it." She said. Hermione and Demelza sniggered at her.

After Hermione finished her lunch she walked past the staff table, she saw that Professor Ruperts was eating a curry that didn't seem to be on anyone else's plates,

"What's that, I didn't think that they had curry today?" she asked,

"Oh no, I made this myself," Professor Ruperts replied, "I hear that they make house elves cook the food here, I just think that it's wrong to force them to work for us." Hermione smiled at this,

"Say, Professor, would you be interested in joining S.P.E.W?" Hermione asked,

"I don't know, what's spew?" asked Professor Ruperts,

"S.P.E.W, it stands for the society for the promotion of elfish welfare, I just want house elves to have equal rights to humans." She explained,

"Sounds great." Said Professor Ruperts

"Well, Luna will be posting the details on the notice boards." Said Hermione,

"I'll look out for it." She said

A few days later Hermione was staring at the notice board in the Gryffindor common room, she read one of the notices:

_S.P.E.W meeting_

_27__th__ September_

_5 o'clock_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom_

_Founder: Hermione Granger_

_Write your name on the sheet below to sign up._

Of course the sign up sheet was empty on this notice board, but Hermione hoped that people from other houses had joined. She joined Ginny and Demelza on the scarlet sofa,

"Guess what?" said Ginny in an excitable tone,

"What?" asked Hermione and Demelza in unison,

"I've set a date for the Quidditch tryouts." At this Demelza jumped up for joy, screaming,

"When is it, when is it, when is it?"

"Okay, settle down, settle down," Ginny continued, "It's on the first of October, but you don't have to worry Dem, I'm keeping all of the old players." Demelza carried on to jumped and clap, to excited to stop moving.

"I don't suppose that any of you want to join S.P.E.W?" asked Hermione hopefully,

"No, it's not that we don't want to but…" Ginny started,

"It's just that we don't really…" tried Demelza,

"You don't want to join." Hermione finished for them.

"No, it's not that we don't _want_ to…" Demelza tried again,

"Great, then you can go and sign up." Hermione smiled at them,

"Okay, I guess, we're joining spew." They tried to force out a grin,

"It's S.P.E.W, and yes, I guess you are." The two of them walked over to the notice board and reluctantly wrote their names down on the sign up sheet.

The next day, Hermione, Luna, Professor Ruperts and, very unhappy, Ginny and Demelza,

"I would like to call the first meeting of S.P.E.W to order!" Hermione was nervous, "I would like to start off by hearing all of your ideas about how we can help house elves."

"I think that we should give them some clothes so that they don't have to wear disgusting tea towels and pillow cases." Said Luna,

"I have already hidden a number of knitted clothes in the common room, do you think you can hide some more?" Hermione asked Luna,

"Why do we hide them?" She asked,

"Because they are afraid of clothes, I just think that once they experience free life, they'll enjoy it." Hermione told them,

"Okay, then I'll make some clothes and hide them" said Luna; you couldn't tell that she wanted to be there as she had her expression of being somewhere accidentally.

"Anyone else want to venture an idea?" Hermione asked them all,

"Yes, I think that we should let them off of work when they get sick, the poor little things working their fingers to the bone even whilst battling an illness." Ventured Professor Ruperts,

"What do you propose we can do?" Hermione wondered if they could spread the message better if they had a respected auror on their side,

"Well first we supply them with a small wage, say, one knut a week, and then let it gradually get higher until they get use to being paid and then we can introduce to them the idea of sick leave and holidays." She explained,

"Sounds great, could you get McGonagall to start giving the Hogwarts house elves a small wage?" Hermione was excited that she might actually make difference in house elves lives.

"I'm sure that I can persuade her." said Professor Ruperts

"Ginny? Demelza? Do you two have any ideas?" she asked them.

"I think that all that can be said has been said." Said Ginny.

"Okay well, that concludes the first meeting of S.P.E.W." She said and everyone disbanded from the classroom.

The next day at breakfast, Luna came up to Hermione with a load full of small handed made clothes in her arms,

"I'm ready to hide them." She said,

"That's great," said Hermione, "I've knitted some more hats and scarves myself, try hiding them in unsuspecting places, and places that are dirty, that way an elf is more likely to come across them whilst cleaning."

"Okay, I'll do that." Luna walked off slowly, trying not to drop the small mountain of clothes she had made.

Then McGonagall walked up to her,

"Granger," she said in her usual stern tone, "Professor Ruperts told me about your little plan this morning," her lip thinned, Hermione gulped in fear of what was to come next, "and I think that it's a wonderful idea."

"What?" cried Hermione,

"I would have thought that you would be a bit more enthusiastic Granger, is this not what you've been wanting for the good part of four years?" her lip thinned again,

"I-I am enthusiastic, just shocked." Said Hermione.

"Alright, I'll start them on a wage of one Knut per week, mind you, they might have to be ordered to take even that amount, but I'm sure they'll get use to it in no time, maybe we'll get them up to ten Galleons by the end of the year." McGonagall walked up to the staff table, Hermione looked along it, seeing all of the Professors eating breakfast, then she came across Professor Ruperts who gave her a wink, Hermione smiled back at her.


	10. Chapter 10

**Quidditch Tryouts**

Demelza got more excited as the first of October drew nearer; Ginny had got a lot more sign ups for the Quidditch teams than Hermione had ever gotten for S.P.E.W. On the day, Hermione was left having breakfast with Luna because Ginny was being crowded by people offering gifts in exchange for a place on the team; Hermione hoped that Ginny wouldn't accept any of them.

"We've already picked the Ravenclaw team, all lovely people, the team captain has been strategizing for weeks, and I already have my eagle and lion head ready for the games, I should probably make a badger head if it occurs that Hufflepuff will be playing Slytherin, I'll get started on that later." Luna rambled on,

"Yeah, great, will you be commentating the games this year?" asked Hermione,

"No, I only got asked to do it once and didn't rather enjoy it, but if I have to then I probably will." She said in her dreamy voice.

After breakfast, Hermione went to the Quidditch pitch with Ginny and Demelza; she sat in the stands and watched as the new Gryffindor team was picked. First Ginny started as Harry had two years previously and sorted the people who wanted to tryout into groups and made them fly a lap around the pitch. First came the people who were on the team last year (Demelza and the beaters: Peakes and Coote) who all flew pretty much perfectly. The next group was consisted of first years, most of who were dreadful and had probably never ridden a broom in their lives.

Then came the second years, some of them flew alright but others flew as the first years had. The third years all flew like the better half of the second years. The fourth year group was quite good but not as good as the fifth year group who flew nearly as well as Demelza, Peakes and Coote. The sixth and seventh years had a mixture of skill groups but none of them were amazing.

Hermione saw Ginny send out the people who weren't good enough and there was quite a bit of uproar. Next was the test to find the keeper, the first boy defended two goals out of five, the second girl only defended one. The third girl defended four of five goals and the next two boys only got three each. It was safe to assume that the girl who scored four goals would become the new keeper.

Then came the test for the chasers, Demelza went first, she was very good at dodging bludgers, she scored twenty four times and avoided fifteen bludgers out of the fifteen that were thrown at her. Then a girl with bright blonde hair tried out, when the first bludger came flying in her direction she dived to the ground, dismounted her broom and ran off of the pitch. The next person to tryout was a boy with a nervous look upon his face, but once he got stuck into it, he scored eighteen goals and dodged nine bludgers.

Peakes and Coote showed a very good performance as beaters as appose to some of the appauling standards of students who tried out, one boy got hit by more bludgers than he batted away, all they had to do was beat bludgers at a dummy on a broom, Coote sent it toppling to the ground. All that was left to find was the seekers.

Ginny threw a golden snitch into the pitch and the dozen or so people who wanted to tryout for seeker flew onto the pitch. It was quite brutal, people bumped and shoved each other and one boy ended up falling off of his broom and had to go to the hospital wing. Hermione noticed that Dennis Crevey was hovering outside of the fighting group, too scared to get involved. A girl was literally thrown across the pitch and into the stands and another girl and a boy were both flying towards the snitch and their faces bumped into each other on the way.

The crowd floating in the middle of the pitch, there wasn't a person out there who wasn't swinging their fists or ramming into each other, apart from Dennis who has still hovering away from them. Then, suddenly, the snitch fluttered above Dennis' head and moved to in front of his face, he reached to grab it but it flew off. He was now chasing it around the pitch unnoticed by the confusion going on in the centre, but then someone yelled,

"That Crevey boy's goin' for the snitch, get 'im!" The crowed hurtled towards Dennis, tailing and blocking him and trying to knock him off of his broom. However he stayed stable and focused and did all kinds of special maneuvers and dodges that none of the kids out there could probably do, he reached out his right hand, leaned forward and grasped the snitch in his fingers. Then Ginny yelled through a megaphone,

"DENNIS CREVEY CAUGHT THE SNITCH!" everyone else on the pitch looked disappointed and the people in the stands cheered for Dennis.

Pretty soon Ginny had the megaphone in her hand again and was about to announce the team,

"ALONG WITH ME AS A CHASER, WE HAVE DEMELZA ROBINS!" Demelza walked out onto the pitch and the crowd cheered, everyone had expected her to make chaser again, "AS THE OTHER CHASER, A FRESH FACE WITH EIGHTEEN GOALS, GAVIN McGREGOR!" A nervous looking boy stepped out onto the pitched and the crowd cheered again. "JOINING US AS A KEEPER, WHO BLOCKED FOUR OF FIVE QUAFFLES FROM THE HOOP, MARIA SAMSON!" a blonde girl stepped out on to the pitch and the crowd carried on cheering, "THE BEATERS SHALL REMAIN TO BE JIMMY PEAKES," he stepped out on to the pitch, "AND RICHIE COOTE!" he joined Peakes on the pitch and the crowed once again cheered, "AND FINALLY, THE NEW GRYFFINDOR SEEKER IS DENNIS CREVEY!" the crowed cheered once more and Dennis slowly made his way on to the pitch. Ginny put the megaphone down and the seven players stood there and earned a round of applause.

The post arrived a few mornings later and a large, long package dropped in front of Demelza, she unwrapped it to reveal a broomstick,

"No way," Ginny was shocked to see it, "Is that a-"

"Yes," said Demelza, "It's a Firebolt, the fastest, well, now second fastest broom in the world thanks to the Lightning bolt but still…when I told my parents that I made the team again I didn't expect…wow." She gazed at it, grabbed it and ran off with it, she yelled back at them, "I'm going to go and fly this right now!"

"I'm going to go watch, coming?" asked Ginny to Hermione, Hermione shook her head and Ginny ran out of the great hall in the same direction as Demelza.

Professor Ruperts soon came walking up to Hermione with a huge grin on her young, scared face, saying,

"Success, success, it took some persuading but success!"

"What's a success, Professor?" asked Hermione,

"We got the house elves to take one Knut a week." She seemed very happy, as was Hermione at this news,

"Great, soon they'll be getting all kinds of money and we can try and spread it to all house elves and-" Hermione was to excited to carry on.

Later on in Potions class, Slughorn had given everyone a specific poison to make an antidote for; Hermione was brewing one with Luna,

"I've not had much success with the clothes." She said whilst chopping some sort of plant,

"No," said Hermione, "nor have I, but we got them the small wage."

"That's good." Luna's dreamy expression turned to a slight smile. "I hear that Slughorn is hosting one of his Slug-club dinner parties, I've been invited this year, I am very excited!"

"It's true," said Ginny, who was on the opposite side of the table whilst Demelza was squeezing some juice of a berry into their cauldron, "I've been invited too, I hope they've improved." Hermione wondered why she had not been invited to this dinner party, but then her question was answered when Slughorn walked up to her,

"Ah, Granger, cauldron looking good as always, I was wondering if you'd like to come to a dinner party I'm having on the twenty third, trying to reinstate the Slug- club, it got cancelled last year you see, ah well, no need to dwell on the past, ay Granger, so, would you like to come, it'll be in me office?"

"Um, yes, okay." Replied Hermione before she could stop herself.

"Great, I'll be seeing you then." Slughorn rubbed his enormous belly and twiddled his moustache, he then walked away.

At the end of the lesson, Hermione and Luna had been complemented on their potion and Slughorn announced to the class,

"Now pupils, before I let you go I must tell you that for your N.E.W.T exam in potions you will have to collect your own ingredients, most of them you can find from me but one of them is the hard to obtain, doxy fang, you will have all year to collect this and I offer you all a vile each of doxy antidote, grab it on your way out, the full list of ingredients will be posted to you throughout the school year, off you go." Everyone left the dungeons with a vile of greenish liquid.

"Where are we going to find doxy fangs?" asked Ginny,

"I don't know, but I think I've probably read it in a book somewhere." Said Hermione,

"So," began Demelza, "Halloween's getting closer, do any of you what you're going to dress as for the dance?" Hermione had completely forgotten that Luna had decided to put three dances in the course of the year.

"I'm going as an angel and Luna, a devil." Said Ginny, "What about you Demelza?"

"I think that I might go as an inferius." Said Demelza, "All I'd have to do is make my face paler and wear some regular robes."

"What are you going as Hermione?" asked Luna,

"Um, me? I don't know." And she didn't, had never even considered it, then she heard Ginny say,

"Harry told me via patronous that he, Ron and Neville won't be able to get here for the Halloween dance, but they should be here for the Christmas dance and maybe even the Valentines one."

"It's a shame that they can't come sooner, who are you going to take to the dance Demelza?" asked Luna,

"Um, um, I-I d-don't know, I don't know." Said Demelza suspiciously.


	11. Chapter 11

**A Strange Couple**

A few days later in herbology, Hermione, Ginny and Luna were trying to get the berries that rested in the core of a gasurealuff plant; it grew hard bark to protect the fruit. The task was meant to be performed in pairs but no-one would take Luna and Demelza was with a Ravenclaw boy at the other end of the green house.

"Why do you think that Demelza got all nervous when we asked her who she would be taking to the dance?" asked Ginny.

"Maybe she's embarrassed because no-body's asked her," suggested Luna, "I don't think that it would be anything to get embarrassed about but I hear that it is unusual for some girls to not to have been asked to a school dance."

"Maybe it's the other way around." Said Hermione,

"What do you mean?" asked Ginny,

"Maybe she got nervous because she does have a date, and she's scared to tell us." She explained,

"Why wouldn't she tell us?" asked Luna,

"Because we would take the mickey out of her if she did." Said Ginny with a slight snigger.

"No we wouldn't.' said Hermione,

"No, and I'm sure that you wouldn't either, would you Ginny?" said Luna,

"Well," Hermione shot her a look, "Well, what I mean is, it depends who it is, doesn't it?" Ginny tried to explain herself, "Besides, we don't know the real circumstances of the situation do we?"

"Well no, but still…" Hermione began, but Professor Sprout addressed the entire class,

"A note from Professor Slughorn everyone, the full list of potion ingredients that you will need for your N.E. has now been posted on the notice boards in the common rooms." She put a pair of thick, patchy gloves on her hands, "He also reminds you that you have the rest of the remaining time until the exam to find all of the ingredients, now continue with your work!"

By the end of Herbology they had succeeded to penetrate the bark of the gasurealuff and pull out five berries, afterwards they returned to the Gryffindor common room and saw the full list of potion ingredients,

_Bezoars_

_Billywig Stings_

_Cornish Pixie Antennae_

_Doxy Fangs_

_Dragonfly Wings_

_Dragon Scales_

_Fairy Eggs_

_Hippogriff Tail Hair_

_Lacewing Flies_

_Mistletoe Berries_

_Unicorn Horn_

_This Potion will create a highly powerful levitation potion capable of lifting a human being well off the ground, in the actual exam we shall be testing on rats, we strongly urge you NOT to produce this potion before hand. Bringing all of the correct ingredients to your exam will count for 25% of your final N.E.W.T grade._

"Can we get this stuff easily?" asked Ginny,

"Some of it," said Hermione, "Others will be potentially harder, but a lot of them can be found in the potions store cupboard so all we really need to find ourselves is doxy fangs, fairy eggs, hippogriff tail hair and unicorn horn."

"But they all seem hard to get." Said Demelza,

"We might have to find dragon scales as well; they don't often have many of those in the potion store cupboard." Hermione, Ginny and Demelza all exchanged looks and soon began running out of the portrait hole.

They were heading for the potions classroom to get the ingredients before anybody else did and, judging by all of the seventh years running down the grand staircase, they presumed that others had the same idea as them. When they made it down to the dungeons it was completely crowded with potion N.E.W.T students. They soon saw a few people squeeze of the classroom, including Professor Slughorn who cried,

"We are all out of dragon scales, billywig stings and dragonfly wings!" , and another small amount of students entered the classroom as the people who had just came out pushed past Hermione, Ginny and Demelza at the bottom of the stairs with an armload of ingredients.

"Maybe we should come back later!" yelled Demelza over the noise of the crowd, "and collect what the rest have left over."

That evening they returned to the common room with bezoars, Cornish pixie antennae, lacewing flies and mistletoe berries.

"We only have four of eleven ingredients." Said Hermione, but no need to worry-"

"No need to worry, how are we going to get dragon scales, or anything on this list to be honest." Ginny seemed very stressed and Demelza kept looking at the clock,

"I'm sure that we can get some things from Hagrid, we can visit him for tea tomorrow and ask for some things, don't worry, we have eight months to find everything, calm down." Said Hermione,

"Okay, I'm sorry." Apologized Ginny,

"Yeah, great," said Demelza, "I have to go and, um, got to, eurgh, have some private practice time on my broom, don't tell anyone because we're not meant to be out of the common rooms." She started to climb out of the portrait hole, "don't wait up!" she left the common room,

"What was that about?" asked Ginny,

"I have no idea, maybe the stress of N.E. is getting to her." suggested Hermione,

"Well we could follow her and find out, but I don't know how we're going to not be seen." Said Ginny,

"Well, we could always use the disillusionment charm." Said Hermione.

Hermione and Ginny snuck out of the common room and, with the help of the disillusionment charm, they were completely the same colour as the walls and background behind them, so people didn't generally notice them. They saw Demelza reach the bottom of the grand staircase so Hermione and Ginny ran as fast as they could to the bottom and she entered the great hall, leaving the large, arched doors open. By the time that Hermione and Ginny had entered the hall, Demelza was on the other side of it and opened the door to the trophy room. The two of them raced to the trophy room door, passed the entrance, and walked down the tin staircase to the trophy room where they saw Demelza talking to the Ravenclaw boy that she had been working with in herbology,

"What took you so long?" asked the boy,

"Sorry," replied Demelza, "I was held up by a couple of friends."

"Doesn't matter," continued the boy, "You're here now." At that moment Demelza and the boy began to kiss, Hermione and Ginny were quite shocked and ran back up into the great hall.

"Was she just…you know?" asked Hermione cautiously,

"Well, yeah, but there's nothing wrong with that." Said Ginny,

"No, no, of course not, I'm just shocked as all." It was true, Hermione didn't understand the real reason why Demelza would not want them to know about the boy, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the boy,

"Well, that answers the question of why she was so nervous when we asked her who she was taking to the Halloween dance, sort of." Ginny seemed confused, probably for the same reason for Hermione was,

"Yes, sort of."

Ginny and Hermione waited in the Gryffindor common room for Demelza's return, and when she did turn up, she seemed very shocked,

"Um, hey guys, what are you doing up?"

"What are you doing up?" Asked Hermione,

"Um, didn't I say, I was having a, um, Quidditch practice, a personal, alone Quidditch practice." Demelza seemed scared of what she might be asked next,

"Windy is it?" asked Ginny,

"What?" Demelza now seemed genuinely confused,

"Well your hair is all messy, was it windy during your _personal _Quidditch practice?" Ginny gave a twitch of a smile and Demelza just twitched nervously,

"Yes, it was a rough practice, now I really should be getting to-" she tried,

"Yes." Began Hermione, Ginny finished for her,

"We hear that it's hard to fly a broom with someone else's tongue in your mouth." Demelza stopped dead,

"What are you talking about?" a bead of sweat dripped down her brow,

"Only the fact that we caught you snogging some Ravenclaw boy in the trophy room." Said Hermione.

"Okay fine, you've got me; I'm going out with Mitchell Webb." She admitted,

"That's great, who is he?" asked Ginny,

"And why did you feel you had to keep it a secret?" asked Hermione,

"He's the seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team; I didn't want to tell you in case you thought I was a traitor."

"We wouldn't think that." Said Hermione,

"Yeah, as long as you don't soften up to him during a game." Said Ginny,

"Are you kidding?" laughed Demelza, "He's my boyfriend off the pitch, but on the pitch, he's an enemy." They all shared a laugh before they went to bed.

The next day they went to Hagrid's cabin to ask for some potion ingredients,

"Well I got some billywig stings, some dragon scales, some fragments of unicorn horn an' yeh can ge' the hippogriff tail hairs by snippin' a couple off o' Buckbeak." Hagrid was telling them whilst he handed them the ingredients that Hermione slipped in a flask in her beaded bag. He lead Hermione, Ginny, Demelza and Luna to Buckbeak's pen, they noticed that the thestral was still there.

"Hey Hagrid, what's that thestral still doing here?" asked Hermione as Hagrid snipped some hairs from Buckbeak's tail and handed it to Hermione,

"Tha's Clarabelle, I named 'er." Said Hagrid,

"Clarabelle the thestral?" said Ginny trying not to sound as though she was mocking it.

"And why is it still here." Asked Hermione, but it was Luna who spoke,

"She's pregnant isn't she, I can always tell." Hagrid nodded, Hermione then noticed that she was fatter than a regular thestral,

"I s the father another thestral in the forest then?" asked Ginny.

"Well, the father, yer lookin' a' 'im, its Buckbeak, 'e's a daddy." Explained Hagrid, Hermione then knew why the thestral had not yet left the pen, when Buckbeak stroked Clarabelle's neck with his beak, it confirmed it, they were in love.

"How long are thestral pregnancies, or would it be the length of a Hippogriff pregnancy?" asked Hermione.

"We should be expec'in the foul aroun' early March." Said Hagrid, "'ave yeh go' all o' the potion ingredients yeh need now?"

"We still need fairy eggs, dragonfly wings and doxy fangs." Said Hermione, "Have you got any?"

"N'ah, bu' I know were you can find them, dragonflies like to be near shallow pools, so check the fountains and the lake, and fairies and doxies can be found in some of the bushes and trees of Hogsmeade."

"Okay, bye, thanks Hagrid." Said Luna, and the four of them left leaving the strange, expecting couple, and Hagrid, behind them.


	12. Chapter 12

**A Sluggish Dinner Party**

"So, are you taking this, Michael, fellow to the Halloween dance then?" asked Ginny in charms class a couple of weeks later,

"It's _Mitchell, _and yes, why?" answered Demelza who was trying to silence her parrot, but every time she said "_Silencio."_ The parrot would repeat her,

"I was just wondering whether or not you two were serious, when did you start going out with him anyway?" Ginny wanted to get all of the gossip that she may have missed in the many times she had interrogated Demelza,

"Mid-September, I don't see why you're so interested, _you're _with Harry Potter." Retorted Demelza,

"Yes I am," Ginny looked slightly sad, "I can't believe that the next time that I'm going to see him will be at Christmas."

"Yeah," started Hermione who's parrot was now silent and was now trying to help Demelza silence hers, "I wish that I could see Ron sooner than December, that's the only down side of being back at Hogwarts, you're lucky Dem, you have a boyfriend who's in the castle all of the time." Demelza nodded and Ginny spoke,

"I've just remembered, we still have to go to Slughorn's dinner party." Hermione had forgotten about this herself, she got caught up in study and relationships.

"Well, they're all right, I suppose." Said Hermione, frowning a little, Slughorn only ever took an interest to those who had famous relatives or were famous themselves; Hermione was only in the Slug-club because she was exceedingly good at potions.

"Maybe I can schedule a very important Quidditch practice to get out of it." Said Ginny considering the idea in her head,

"If you do then I'll kill you." Said Hermione before,

"_Silencio."_ Demelza had silenced her parrot.

"I don't want to go, you can't make me." Complained Ginny in the common room,

"Look, it won't be that bad, it wasn't very bad last time was it?" Hermione tried to reason with her,

"No, but did you see how much attention he used top pay to Harry, now I'm going out with him, he's bound not to leave me alone, I bet you that the first thing that he asks me as soon as I walk through the door will be about Harry." argued Ginny,

"Well you're going; I'm not going to be there alone, and why would Slughorn know about you and Harry?" Hermione stared at her with a serious look on her face,

"Fine, I'll go, and do you know how fast things travel in this school, it's been going round about me and Harry for a year and a half now." Said Ginny.

Hermione and Ginny walked down the grand staircase, and on the fourth floor landing, they saw a Slytherin girl with jet black, straight, short hair and blue eyes that stared at Hermione with an angry expression, she stood amongst a small group of Slytherin girls.. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Hermione asked,

"Say Ginny, do you know who that girl was?"

"Oh, _her_, that was Katrina Walker, she's my age, and a real-" the next word out of Ginny's mouth was a very rude one,

"I've never seen her in lesson's." said Hermione,

"That's because she got such bad marks on her O.…twice! This is her third time repeating her fifth year." Ginny explained.

They made their way to the dungeons and into Slughorn's office were a round table was sitting with about fifteen people sitting around the edge of it (including Luna and Slughorn who sat in the more impressive, larger chair, Hermione thought that this was because the regular chairs would not support his weight, and because he wanted to feel more important).

"Ah, Miss Granger, Miss Weasley, I was beginning to think that you wouldn't make it, take a seat," Hermione and Ginny sat together opposite Slughorn, "Miss Weasley, how's Harry?" Ginny gave Hermione a look that suggested "I told you so" and answered Slughorn with a,

"He's fine."

The girl from the stairs entered the room,

"I'm so sorry I'm late professor." She said,

"Not to worry, sit down and let's get started." Said Slughorn, twiddling his moustache. The topic going around the table was _"What do you want to do when you leave Hogwarts_". It didn't seem very long until he reached Ginny,

"How about you Weasley?" he asked before taking a large mouthful of ice-cream sundae, Ginny seemed startled and let her spoon to rest in her ice-cream,

"Me, well, I would like to go into a professional Quidditch career." Said Ginny, Hermione did not know this information about Ginny, though it was perfectly plausible, Ginny was an exceptional Quidditch player, even Hermione, who knew nothing about Quidditch, could spot that.

"Really?" Slughorn continued, "What team d'you support?"

"The Holyhead Harpies." Answered Ginny,

"You know, Gwenog Jones, the captain of the team for those of you who don't follow Quidditch, is an ex-pupil of mine, we're on extremely good terms, free tickets whenever I want them, I think that I could set up an interview for you." Ginny froze; she was either furious or excited. "I assume that by you're expression that you would like said interview to take place?" said Slughorn, Ginny nodded, Hermione was surprised that Ginny would accept this offer but Slughorn just smiled and rubbed his stomach, "Well I'll keep you posted, Miss Weasley."

Slughorn then turned his head to Hermione,

"Miss Granger, what would you like to do when you leave school?" he asked,

"Me, I would like to do something_ worth while_." Said Hermione,

"And would you care to expand upon that?" asked Slughorn,

"Well, I'm hoping to take S.P.E.W to the ministry." Hermioine hoped that Slughorn wouldn't continue but,

"And what is spew?" he asked,

"It's S.P.E.W, it stands for the society for the promotion of elfish welfare, it's at Hogwarts, so far we have the house elves accepting two Knuts a week and we-" Hermione was cut off during her explanation by Katrina Walker,

"That's ridiculous, house elves were born for enslavement and they should die enslaved." Her voice was cold, posh and mean,

"Well, Miss Walker, what do you hope to do when you eventually graduate." Said Slughorn,

"Well, I hope to restart the Muggle-Born Registration Commission at the ministry, after all, Mudbloods are thieves of magic." She gave a withering stare to Hermione.

A few days later in Transfiguration, they were meant to be discussing and sharing what they've learnt about metamorphamagi but Ginny said to Hermione, Luna and Demelza,

"You'll never guess what."

"What?" asked the three of them in unison,

"I have an interview with the Holyhead Harpies on our next Hogsmeade visit in the Three Broomsticks!" this was quite audible but she soon hushed down, "And if I make a good impression then and I show a good performance on the pitch in the upcoming game, which means twice as much practice for us all Demelza, they might consider taking me on because on of their chasers is retiring soon, I'm so excited and I owe it all to Slughorn, who'd have thought it?" she did seem very over excitable,

"I think that it's great that you're following you're dreams Ginny," said Luna, "I myself hope to travel the world as a naturalist after the year is over."

"Yeah it's great." Said Demelza,

"Hey Dem?" asked Ginny,

"Yeas?" she answered,

"Do you think that you might want a career in Quidditch or what? What do you want to do?" Hermione had never thought this herself,

"Okay, don't laugh, but, I kind of want to be a healer." Said Demelza,

"We wouldn't laugh," said Hermione, "I think it sounds great, I'd consider it myself if I didn't think that S.P.E.W would take so long."

"I think that it is a noble profession.' Said Luna and the rest of them nodded in agreement.

"Well, does anyone have anything to share this meeting?" asked Hermione at the next meeting of S.P.E.W. It was just Professor Ruperts and Luna now, Demelza and Ginny had just stopped coming,

"Well, we have the elves up to three Knuts per week and when one got sick we convinced him to lie down and rest for a full hour, he continued working afterwards, but, it's a start." Professor Ruperts was telling them,

"And a couple of elves have accepted my clothes because now they're getting paid, they're not afraid to be freed, I believe you can find Kreacher wearing a jumper and hat that he said looked good with his locket and a few more elves took some socks and scarves, it's only a few and they aren't wearing full outfits but, again, it's a start." Said Luna in her dreamy tone,

"Well, that's, that's fantastic!" Hermione couldn't mask her joy, she was definitely making progress, "I've sent flyers and notices to Harry and Ron to give out at the ministry and I've convinced a young house elf to begin using a wand, the young ones are easier to convince, and hopefully he will convince some of the older ones, and if we convince all of the young elves that this is all normal then the next generation of house elves will be the S.P.E.W era, remember, Kreacher is the most progressed house elf since Dobby died, then Winky, so try to convince them and the young to try new idea's that S.P.E.W might have for them to receive equal rights and, unless anyone has anything else to add, that concludes today's meeting." S.P.E.W was doing better in the past month than it had in the four years since it started.

"I think that that went very well, you're making an excellent leader Hermione." Said Professor Ruperts after Luna had left the defense against the dark arts classroom.

"Well, the main work was down to you and Luna, thanks for getting Professor McGonagall to agree to all of this by the way." Said Hermione, she was very grateful that she had better members than Harry and Ron now; she sometimes felt that their hearts weren't all in it. Hermione looked around the classroom at all of the rag dolls and cased broomsticks and she came across a stone basin, "I didn't know that you have a pensive." Hermione was intrigued by the item; she rarely had a chance to see Dumbledore's.

"Yes well, I just ordered it, I've been meaning to move it to the office." Said Professor Ruperts,

"Professor, if you don't mind me asking, you're so young, why do you need a pensive?" Hermione feared that she had intruded,

"No I don't mind," she said, "I've had a lot happen to me in my short life Hermione, probably enough to fill a full lifetime, sometimes I need help documenting all of the memories." Hermione began to walk out the door but stopped, "Oh, and Hermione, why don't you call me _Danielle _from now on." She said,

"Yes," said Hermione, "Danielle." And Hermione left the room.


	13. Chapter 13

**The Halloween Dance**

The thirty first of October reared its head and every part of Hogwarts you could find was surrounded by couples, this made Hermioine, Ginny and Luna feel particularly lonely due to the absence of Ron, Harry and Neville. They had seen a lot less of Demelza lately as most of her time leading up to the dance was spent with Mitchell.

"So she said you could call her Danielle?" Luna was saying in Astronomy after Hermione had told her and Ginny about what happened with Danielle.

"Why would she need a pensive? She's so young." Wondered Ginny,

"She said it was because she has lots of memories that she needs to keep track of or something." Hermione explained. Ginny looked over at Demelza, who was drawing a constellation that they had to memorize, with Mitchell,

"She's abandoned us, at least we don't have to worry about going to the dance alone." Said Ginny,

"Why not?" Hermione was confused as to why this was,

"Me and Luna are going together as an angel, me, and a devil, her, and we have our dance routine sorted." Ginny smiled at Hermione,

"Dance routine?" asked Hermione,

"Well yeah, there's going to be a dance contest at the dance, do you not keep up with social events." Hermione had never been the social type, she was always more into reading books and studying than she was in meeting people, "What are you dressing as? You are going aren't you?"

"Probably not." Said Hermione, "I'll probably just use the peace and quiet of the rest of the castle to get in some studying and finish some homework."

"But you already study more than anyone I know and you've done all of your homework and the extra credit work." Ginny argued.

"You should come Hermione, you never know, you might find it fun." Said Luna's dreamy voice as her quill scratched down the constellation of Sagittarius.

The night of the dance arrived and everyone was in the great hall enjoying the Halloween feast and Luna was talking to Hermione and Ginny,

"Well first you cut off the top of the head with a knife, then you remove all of the gooey stuff inside, this might take a while, then you cut out the eyes, the nose and the mouth, then you put the candle inside the head," Luna was demonstrating as she told them what to do, "and that's how you turn a pumpkin into a jack-o'-lantern." Luna turned around the pumpkin that she had taken from the feast and revealed a simple face, triangular eyes and nose and little orange fangs,

"It's great Luna." Said Ginny before taking a mouthful of pumpkin pie,

"Yeah terrific." Said Hermione before Danielle came and sat next to her with an excited expression upon her face,

"Guess what, the house elves are up to four Knuts per week and the more money they receive, the more clothes they seem to be wearing, the odd one you saw in a tea towel, and I think that I saw a couple more elf children using wands and I think I saw Winky pick one up and use one, before you know it they'll be enrolling into Hogwarts."

"Yeah, great! But remember not to tell anyone at the ministry about the house elves using wands until the law is abolished, otherwise they could go to jail." Explained Hermione who had just factored in the no-wand law.

The evening was upon them and Hermione was in the common room whilst everybody else was in the great hall (The setting of the dance). She went up to the common room to collect some of the books that lay on her bedside table for a night of study and reading and she found Ginny in her costume stressing out on the floor.

"What's wrong?" asked Hermione,

"Luna, she suddenly decided that she had a better costume idea and told me she was sorry, we had a routine, I, we, were going to win and believe me, I could use a win sometime around now." Ginny was very distressful and a tear fell down her cheek.

"Why do you say that?" asked Hermione in a concerned tone,

"It's just that I miss Harry and everybody else and I haven't been able to see them and I won't until Christmas and this is just-" she gave a small scream and Hermione put an arm around her and said,

"If you want, I could go with you."

"No, you don't know the routine." Said Ginny,

"So we'll just go to have fun, I hear people do that sometimes." Ginny gave a laugh,

"Okay, but I ask you this; do you want to be the angel or the devil?"

Ginny and Hermione pushed open the doors to the great hall, full in costume and entered with most eyes on them. Ginny was in a stylish white dress, a shining halo hovering above her head and white, feathery wings on her back. Hermione was in a stylish red dress with horns coming out of her hair and a long red tail. Everyone carried on with the dance, the four house tables had been pushed aside and the hall was decorated with spooky items,

"I think it's fair to say that we made an entrance." Said Hermione,

"I'd say." Said Ginny,

"Wow, you guys look great." It was Luna, she was wearing a large pumpkin and, judging by the smell, it was a real one with arms and leg holes cut out in it and she was wearing the top as a hat and a cheeky orange face was carved in it. "I love your costumes, what do you think of mine?" she asked.

"It's alright, I guess." Snapped Ginny, who was obviously still annoyed at Luna for changing her mind at the last minute, Luna went off to go and start dancing, though she couldn't move much in her giant pumpkin.

They soon spotted Demelza and Mitchell at the refreshments table drinking punch. Hermione and Ginny walked over to them, Demelza and him were both wearing their school robes but they were pale, had scars, straw like hair, sharp fingers and blackened eyes.

"Hey guys." Said Demelza, "We're inferi, are you going to be entering the dance contest with anyone Ginny?"

"Why would she not be entering with me?" asked Hermione,

"Well, you know, it's just you're very, no, well, you're not really, um, how do I put this, you're more into, you know, you're not like, like us and that I didn't, well, um, I didn't think that dancing was, er , really…your cup of tea, if you know what I mean."

"Well it took you a long time to spit that out, as a matter of fact Ginny and I shall be entering the dance contest together." Snapped Hermione unaware of what she was getting herself into.

"Well that's great," said Demelza, "I guess we'll see you on the dance floor."

"Yes, I guess we will." Said Hermione forcing out a barely passable smile, Demelza walked off with Mitchell who just waved and smiled.

"What are you doing, we have nothing prepared." Said Ginny in a hushed tone.

"I know my way around a dance floor, thank you; we'll just have to improvise when the time comes." Then they heard McGonagall announce,

"The dance contest begins now!"

"Which might be sooner than we thought." said Hermione,

"Well, no backing out now, lets go." Said Ginny.

They walked onto the floor and began to dance; the song was upbeat so they danced fast along with the other couples that danced in the middle of the hall, the people who weren't participating stood around the edge and watched,

"Okay, just follow my lead." Said Ginny and Hermione discovered something she never knew, Ginny was a fantastic dancer. They did all kinds of fancy dance moves that Hermione had only ever seen performed by professionals on the television. The things they did put the rest of the dancers (including Demelza and Mitchell and Luna who was dancing by herself) to shame. Other couples began to clear out of the middle and Hermione and Ginny danced in the centre. Pretty soon it was just four people left dancing, Hermione and Ginny and Demelza and Mitchell, and when Demelza tripped over onto Mitchell who smacked his head on the floor, the winners were obvious. Hermione and Ginny stepped up to the front and received their prizes, a crown each and two caldrons full of sweets from Honeydukes to be had between them. They rejoined the dance and Hermione ran into Katrina as Ginny went off to mingle, Katrina was wearing very casual clothes, a hoody and jeans,

"Nice going out there Granger, bet your enjoying the popularity, but don't let it all go to your filthy muggle brain."

"It could be worse, I could have a brain like yours, pompous and stupid, what is it, the third time that you're repeating you're O.W.L year, what a shame that my _filthy muggle brain_ as you put it, got ten outstandings on its first go at O., what are you meant to dressed as anyway?" retorted Hermione,

"A muggle, pretty scary, right?" And don't worry; you'll pay for your comments…in time." Katrina walked off and Hermione saw Ginny talking to Mindy Mantis at the refreshment tables so Hermione joined her. She saw some Slytherin boy slip something in the punch bowel and as the smell of freshly mown grass, parchment and Ron's hair hit her nose, she knew what it was.

Before Hermione could say as much as "Stop, don't drink it!", Ginny had already poured herself a ladle full and downed the whole cup, luckily Hermione was able to knock the punch bowel to the ground, but that didn't change the fact that Ginny had just taken love potion. Another unfortunate factor was that the first person that Ginny saw after she drank the punch was Hermione,

"You know what Hermione?" began Ginny, "I never noticed just how pretty you looked before."

"Uh-oh." Said Hermione, "come on, Ginny, I'll take you to the dungeons."

"Oh I bet you will, It's a bit early but I'm game." Said Ginny now giggling and making googly eyes at Hermione,

"What does that me- anyway come on." Hermione dragged her off by the arm and Ginny said,

"Yes, take where you will my love." She smiled and stared at Hermione lovingly,

"I can't wait for the dungeons, take me right here." Ginny then grabbed Hermione, twisted her around and kissed her right on the lips for a full five seconds before Hermione was able to push her off of her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Hermione then realized that she was in the centre of the hall where she had won the dance contest and was in plain sight of all of the rest of the school who were all still and staring at them.

Ginny began to cry,

"What's wrong don't you like me?" she cried harder,

"Um, Luna, can you take her to the dungeons to see Slughorn; she's been spiked with a love potion." Luna waddled off with Ginny whilst Ginny was sobbing and yelling,

"I-I w-want to b-b-be with my H-Hermi-mione, I l-love her, let m-me g-go!" Everyone was staring at Hermione as Ginny was dragged out of the hall. She stormed out and broke into a run halfway to the door.

Back in the dormitory, she sat on her bed, her head buried in her lap in shame of what had happened.

"Hey." It was Demelza; she had entered the dormitory, "that was some kiss." She began to laugh and stopped when Hermione looked up at her with a deadly stare, "Okay, too soon to make jokes I see, well I'm getting back to the dance so, is there anything I should do for you?" asked Demelza. Hermione shook her head, "Better leave before you kiss me right?" Demelza smiled and so did Hermione whilst shaking her head, "Bye then." Demelza left the room and down the stairs and Hermione collapsed on her bed and went to sleep with thoughts of what people would be saying to her over the next few months.


	14. Chapter 14

**Interview in Hogsmeade**

"It's a Hogsmeade weekend this weekend, you wanna go?" asked Demelza in the common room,

"Yeah, the last time I went into Hogsmeade village was when me, Ron and Harry snuck in under the invisibility cloak, Harry cast his stag, the death eaters were after us and we were rescued by Aberforth." Hermione began to get excitable,

"You really had a lot of adventures with Harry and Ron didn't you?" said Demelza, Hermione nodded, Crookshanks purred on her lap, "You coming Ginny?"

"I have to." Said Ginny,

"Why do you _have to_?" asked Demelza,

"Because it's my interview with the Holyhead Harpies! I'm so excited…and nervous, but mainly excited!" Ginny began to jump up and down trying to contain herself.

Soon she calmed down and said,

"So, Hermione, that dance last night, everything's kind of a blur, I remember you being there and the dance, and the punch bowel and…no…tell me I didn't, we didn't, did we, um?" she began to point to her lips and then to Hermione and back and forth, Hermione gave a small nod of shame, "Okay, we never tell Harry and Ron, agreed?" asked Ginny,

"Never ever, ever, ever-" began Hermione whilst she shook Ginny's hand to seal the deal,

"Yeah, I think that that's all the touching that we might be doing in a long while." Ginny backed away from Hermione and Hermione rejoined Crookshanks on the scarlet sofa.

The weekend had arrived; Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Demelza were walking across the pathway in Hogsmeade village. Newt the dog was on Luna's lead and Arnold and Zelda sat on Ginny and Hermione's shoulders (Crookshanks was perfectly happy in the Gryffindor common room chasing mice).

"Okay, so we have to go to the Three Broomsticks." Hermione was saying,

"Why?" asked Luna,

"Because that's were Gwenog Jones is waiting to give me an interview!" Ginny got excited again, "We're here!" she exclaimed as they entered the pub, "There she is, here; take Arnold for me, thanks, bye!" Ginny but the pygmy puff inn Demelza's hands and went of to sit with Gwenog Jones.

Hermione, Luna and Demelza sat down at a separate table and ordered three butterbeers from Madame Rosmerta (Hermione held coldness against her because Ron had once had a crush on her).

"I hope it goes well, fingers crossed." Said Demelza,

"Actually, I always found that crossing your fingers doesn't help, I always use a variety of lucky charms, but, I left them in the Ravenclaw common room." Said Luna,

"Really, because_ I _always thought that lucky charms are a load of-"

"Dem!" Hermione stopped her before she could say the next word,

"I'm sorry Demmy; I didn't mean to offend you." Luna gave a dreamy smile,

"It's _Demelza, _Dem to my friends and that doesn't include you!"

"She doesn't mean it Luna." Hermione turned to Demelza and Demelza muttered something under her breath that sounded like,

"Looney."

"They look like they're doing well, don't they?" said Hermione trying to change the subject and looking and Ginny and Gwenog who were laughing and smiling together.

"Yeah they do, I hope Ginny gets a spot on the team." Said Luna taking a sip from her butterbeer.

"Same." Said Demelza.

A bout five minutes later Ginny returned to the three of them with a huge smile on her face and waving to Gwenog as she left the Three Broomsticks.

"Tell us _everything_!" cried Demelza,

"How did it go?" asked Hermione,

"Do you think you made the team?" Luna's dreamy eyes stared at Ginny, Arnold the pygmy puff climbed onto her shoulder,

"Well, I won't know anything for sure for a little while and she wants to see me on the pitch in a game situation before she decides anything." Ginny frowned slightly but soon smiled again, "But I think it went really great, she started off by asking me why I want to take a career in Quidditch and I told her it was because I genuinely love the game and think that it would be something that I would be good at and then she asked me what position I played and I told her I was a chaser but I can be an alright seeker and she said it was great because one of their chasers is going into retirement at the end of the year and they need a new one and…" Hermione, Luna and Demelza took general interest as Ginny went into explicit detail about the interview, "…and we had most of the same likes and dislikes and we had great chemistry which she said would be an important part of joining a team and that she thinks that the rest of the girls would love me, I told her that I've always loved Quidditch and that I've always supported the Holyhead Harpies because I see them as role models being the only all-witch team in the sport which seemed to go down very well and…" By the time Ginny was finished with, "…and then she left, but, you three obviously saw that so I don't have to tell you." Hermione and the other two were quite bored but Ginny was still very excited.

"Wow," said Luna, "that sounds…"

"Very, _very_ detailed," said Demelza but sensing the tone she finished with, 'which is really great and everything and I can't believe that…" her voice died down, "I guess we're going to have to train extra hard then." Ginny nodded at this and then said,

"Oh, that reminds me, Madame Hooch asked me to find a commentator, who should I pick?"

"I'll be happy to do it again." Said Luna, Ginny, Demelza and Hermione shared a moment of awkward silence and Ginny continued,

"So who do you think I should pick?" Ginny stroked Arnold on her shoulder and Luna stroked Newt under the table.

They were walking back up the street, licking lollipops that they had bought from Honeydukes sweet shop and Luna suggested,

"Didn't Hagrid say that we can find fairies and doxies here in Hogsmeade, maybe we should look for some?"

"Not a bad idea." Said Hermione, "We just need to find some bushes and trees, shouldn't be too hard." They carried on walking until they found a secluded area surrounded by bushes,

"How do we draw them out?" asked Ginny,

"Can we lure them with bait or something?" suggested Demelza,

"No," said Luna, "fairies and doxies are too intelligent to be fooled by bait."

"Well thanks for that little snippet of news!" yelled Demelza,

"Don't start you two," said Hermione who had an idea herself, "we just have to draw them out."

"How?" asked Ginny,

"I have an idea, it might not work but, here goes," Hermione pulled out her wand and said; "_Incendio!_" flames sprouted from the tip of her wand and ignited the bush.

For a while nothing happened,

"Come on, put the bush out and lets g-ahh" Ginny was cut of by about twenty perfectly formed, tiny little humans with insect like wings that were screaming in some sort of odd language coming from the flaming bush.

"I think we found the fairies then!" cried Demelza, a fairy let out a puff of purple smoke and Demelza started rubbing her bright red ear,

"They're beautiful!" exclaimed Luna,

"This isn't a time to be appreciating them!" yelled Demelza, whose ear now looked white hot,

"Nor is it a time for fighting!" snapped Hermione,

"Never mind all that, we have to get the eggs, put that bush out before they all burn to-ow!" a fairy had let out a blue puff of smoke and Ginny's eye was swelling up.

"_Aguamenti!_" a jet of water flushed from Hermione's wand and smothered the flames that surrounded the bush.

The bush was black and leafless and the eggs were clearly visible, but before Hermione had a chance to grab some, the whole swarm of fairies fluttered in front of her, blocking her from the egg ridden bush,

"How do you stop fairies?" Hermione cried,

"Cut of their wings." Suggested Ginny, whose eye was surrounded by congested tears,

"No, that's cruel!" said Luna,

"Say's the person whose ear isn't burning off!" yelled Demelza,

"So try to stop they're wings from moving." Said Ginny,

"How?" asked Hermione,

"You coulb twy fweezig vem." Luna seemed very calm considering that an orange puff of smoke had just swelled her lips to twice their regular size,

"Good idea! _Glacius!_" a line of snowflakes fired out of the tip of Hermione's wand and after a few seconds, the fairies fell to the ground all frozen together in a single block of ice.

Hermione grabbed a handful of fairy eggs and shoved them into a flask that she took from, and stuffed back into, her beaded bag.

"Now lets go before they- uh oh." They ice binding the fairies began to shatter and they all rose into the air and went after the four of them. Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Demelza ran down the hill that the secluded area sat on top of and were being chased by a swarm of fairies that were firing puffs of multi-coloured smoke out of their tiny, human hands.

"How are we going to lose them?" asked Ginny as they approached the bottom of the hill, Demelza held up her wand and yelled,

"_Protego!_" and an invisible shield erupted from her wand, the fairies hit it and they all fell to the ground,

"That boz vewy cwuel!" yelled Luna, soon all of the fairies rose up again and retreated back up the hill.

"Well it worked didn't it." Gloated Demelza,

"Come on, we should get you three to the hospital wing and sort out your injuries.

They then heard a rustling from behind the bushes,

"Oh no not more fairies." Hermione told herself. However the creature that stepped out from behind the bush wasn't a fairy, but a small, goblin like creature holding a sword.

"Whab woulb a wed cap be doig 'ere." Said Luna, Hermione thought the same thing, why would a red cap be there, but no time to think, the red cap charged at them with its sword at the ready.

Ginny performed a very impressive bat-bogey hex and the red cap fell and scurried up the hill after dropping a dung bomb in its wake, they saw its body drop at the top of the hill.

"That is absolutely disgusting!" yelled Demelza as the down smoke was emitted from the dung bomb, "Anyway, you three, hospital wing now." Said Hermione.

But on her way back to the castle she thought, Hogsmeade is not a red cap's natural habitat, they love bloodshed and spend their time in battlefields and dungeons so that they can beat the life out of fallen muggle warriors, maybe it got lost, or maybe someone set it lose, maybe it was meant to attack the for of them, or maybe it was meant to attack someone else but Hermione and the other three got in the way, but who would set it free? Who?


	15. Chapter 15

**Hermione's Commentary**

Ginny, Luna and Demelza had been easy to heal,

"Fairy magic, pitifully weak, easy to fix in a click of the fingers." Madame Pomfrey (the school matron) had told them and fixed the wounds with a few waves of the wand.

"So who do you think set it on us?" asked Ginny in history of magic class with Professor Binns (the only ghost teacher who probably didn't know he was a ghost).

"Who cares, if a red cap can be repelled by a bat-bogey hex, they obviously aren't much trouble." Said Demelza,

"There was only one, in a horde they're much more dangerous." Explained Hermione,

"Maybe it got lost or was left behind-the poor thing-and _we_ attacked it!" Luna seemed upset with herself,

"I think its okay to fire a hex at something if it's charging at you with a bloody sword!" snapped Demelza,

"Don't start, and I doubt it would have gotten lost there, not unless there was a horde of red caps charging through Hogsmeade village." Said Hermione, "I think that someone set it on us."

"Why would somebody do that?" asked Ginny,

"Maybe it wasn't meant for us but for someone else, we could have gotten in the way of it attacking someone or it could have just attacked someone when it met us."

"Anyway, changing the subject," started Demelza, "Quidditch match coming up soon, Ginny's big chance."

"Yes it is," Ginny turned sternly to Demelza, "So we _have _to win the game and if we have the choice of either one of us scoring a hoop, can you _please _let me, I really, really, really have to make a good impression on Gwenog to prove myself in a game situation."

"Fine." Demelza folded,

"Thanks." Ginny got a smile on her face, "I hope we do well, wish us luck."

"Good luck." Said Luna,

"I said _wish_ it, do you want to jinx my chances?" Ginny seemed very scary at that moment.

"Who's the match against?" asked Hermione,

"Hufflepuff." Answered Ginny, "Shouldn't be too hard to beat should they."

"But before you play don't you still need a commentator?" asked Luna,

"Yes, good point, I have an idea, "DOES ANYBODY IN HERE WANT TO BE THE NEW QUIDDITCH COMMENTATOR?" Ginny yelled, several people raised their hands followed by a,

"SHHH!" from Professor Binns.

The morning of the first Quidditch match of the year had come; Luna was wearing her usual large lion's head that produced a very audible roar, the four of them sat at one of the house tables in the great hall for breakfast,

"Nervous?" Hermione asked Ginny,

"Yep, very." Ginny took a gulp of pumpkin juice,

"I am in possession of many nerve calming tonics if you would like to give one a try." Said Luna,

"No, you see, we want her alive for the match, Looney lion." Said Demelza who muttered the last part under her breathe,

"Gwenog Jones is going to be in the stands, the turn outs of this game could determine my future, haven't by any chance got any felix felices on you?" Ginny looked up hopefully,

"No!" Hermione stated firmly, "and if I did I wouldn't give you any, it's cheating, would you really want your future to be based on a lie-"

"I was only joking." Said Ginny before biting into a slice of buttered toast.

"Well the team has been doing really well with this extra training," said Demelza, "You've been scoring more than ever, I've blocked every bludger that came at me, Peakes and Coote have improved their aim, Maria has been blocking the quaffle with new, more effective techniques and Dennis has always caught the snitch within twenty five minutes."

"True, true, I just hope that nothing goes wrong." said Ginny.

"So have you got the commentator?" asked Hermione in the changing room before the match,

"Yes, some second year boy I found who's a fan of Quidditch." replied Ginny,

"Great, I'm going off to the stands now, good luck." Hermione left the changing room and headed for the stands.

On they way she bumped into Professor McGonagall who was looking frantic,

"Oh good, Granger, the boy backed out at the last minute, you wouldn't mind doing the commentary for the match would you?"

"Um, well-" Hermione was cut off,

"Great, come with me Granger." McGonagall dragged Hermione by the wrist to a part of the stands were most of the teachers sat, at the front, a chair with a primitive microphone in front of it. Hermione was plumped into the seat.

Hermione was confused about what was going on around her, Madame Hooch was on her broom talking in the centre of the pitch and before Hermione knew it she opened the crate containing the balls and announced,

"Let the match begin!" Fourteen people flew onto the pitch in flashes of red and yellow, the keepers flew off straight away to guard the hoops and the rest of the players disbanded across the pitch. The game went on for a while before Hermione would say anything,

"Well, say something then!" cried McGonagall behind her, Ginny zoomed across the pitch with the quaffle in her arms and through it through the hoop whilst the Hufflepuff keeper remained completely oblivious and had become fixated on his shoes. Hermione announced nervously,

"UM, ER, T-TEN POINTS TO GR-GRYFFINDOR!" the people in the stands cheered.

Peakes fired a bludger for one of the Hufflepuff chasers and hit her causing her to drop the quaffle into Demelza's arms who blocked two bludgers on her way to the hoop, she passed the ball to Gavin who passed it to Ginny who scored for the second time, Hermione then announced,

"ANOTHER TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR AND A BAD FALL FOR THAT, UM, GIRL WHO FELL!" the crowd cheered again.

The match had progressed a lot further and something had happened to Hermione that she never thought possible…she was enjoying a Quidditch match.

"AND A GREAT SHOT FROM COOTE KNOCKING THE HUFFLEPUFF SEEKER HALF OFF HER BROOM, A GREAT DODGE BY DEMELZA ROBINS WHO DROPS THE QUAFFLE DOWN TO A HUFFLEPUFF CHASER, HE'S HEADING FOR THE HOOP AND A BLOCK AND A HALF FROM MARIA SAMPSON AND GAVIN TAKES THE QUAFFLE AND-OH NO- HIT BY A BLUDGER AND THE QUAFFLE IS CAUGHT BY-WHAT'S THIS- A SEEKER CATCHING THE QUAFFLE-IT'S OKAY, GINNY WEASLEY SWIPES THE QUAFFLE, SHE'S HAEDING FOR THE HOOP-SHE SHOOTS. SHE SCORES-YAY-THAT LEAVES THE SCORE AT EIGHTY POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR AND TWENTY POINTS TO HUFFLEPUFF! HOPEFULLY THE SEEKERS WILL GET INTO THE ACTION SOON AND WAS THAT A SNITCH I JUST SAW FLY PAST THE HUFFLEPUFF KEEPER'S EAR-BETTER GET IN ON THAT SEEKER'S AND DENNIS CREEVEY ZOOMS TOWARDS THE STANDS BEING TAILED BY THE HUFFLEPUFF SEEKER-A HUFFLEPUFF CHASER TAKES THE QUAFFLE-HE SHOOTS AND –OH NO- HE SCORES- DEMELZA ROBINS QUICKLY CATCHES IT ON THE OTHER SIDE AND LOBS IT ACROSS THE PITCH AND-SOMEONES CAUGHT IT- A GREAT GOAL BY GAVIN MCGREGOR AND A REBOUND GOAL BY GINNY WEASLEY AND MEANWHILE DENNIS IS JUST INCHES FROM THE BALL AND-NOOO! HE'S HIT BY A BLUDGER-THE HUFFLEPUFF SEEKER PERSUES THE SNITCH AND –YES!-GREAT SHOT BY JIMMY PEAKES-GINNYN WEASLEY HAS THE QUAFFLE-DENNIS CREEVEY IS LESS THAN AN INCH AWAY-GINNYN SCORES AND DENNIS CREEVEY HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH-GRYFFINDOR WINS! THE SCORES ARE TWO-HUNDRED AND FIFTY TO THIRTY!" the crowed cheered louder than ever and Hermione saw Gwenog Jones clapping and smiling in Ginny's direction.

"Well done Granger, you did well; it wouldn't hurt to learn some of the opposing player's names but still…" McGonagall joined in with the clapping. Ginny was in deep conversation with Gwenog and Hermione saw then shaking hands, Ginny was in.

The Gryffindor common room played host to one of its usual victory parties and Hermione found Ginny,

"What did Gwenog say, are you in?"

"She said that I proved skill that she's never seen before in some of the professional teams, she's going to preview all of my other games to make sure I can keep constant skill and if the rest of the girls like me-I'm in." Ginny hugged Hermione,

"Oh ladies are we about to get a repeat of the dance?" said some fifth year boy staring at them smiling, Ginny gave him a rude hand gesture that Hermione was too kind to do and the boy backed off.

Hermione and Luna sat on the edge of the lake the next and were trying to retrieve some dragonflies as potion ingredients,

"You know those fairy eggs we got?" said Luna,

"Yes, why?" replied Hermione,

"Will they hatch in the flask?" she asked,

"No, without the nurturing on their parents they should just die away and not hatch at all, but they have a painless death, besides they never lived did they." Hermione spotted Luna welling up,

"No, I suppose not." Said Luna, sucking in her tears, "how do we lure dragonflies,

"Maybe we just sort of gra-" Hermione was stopped by a lump of water rising from the lake and soon a full grown body floated above the water.

The creature was a woman with black, floor length hair and a skeletal, green tinged face,

"What is it?" asked Luna in a frightened haze,

"A banshee, it's a banshee, its scream is fatal and-oh no." Hermione noticed it's eyes close, it was preparing to scream. She tried to remember all of the things that she had read about banshees-you had to break the neck when the eyes were closed as the rest of the body was very strong. Hermione whipped out her wand-the banshee's mouth opened-Hermione's wand aimed at the creatures neck and,

"_Reducto!_" the spell hit the banshee's neck before it could scream and the head was blasted off, the body sank into the water.

"How could that have happened, banshees don't live around the black lake." Hermione was figuring things out in her head,

"Where did it come from, thanks for stopping it by the way." Said Luna,

"First the red cap and now a banshee, it's more than just a coincidence, I think that someone might be trying to kill us." Said Hermione in a conclusive tone.


	16. Chapter 16

**Duel and Ghoul**

"Are you going to tell McGonagall about the attack?" asked Ginny in the great hall at lunch,

"Should I?" asked Hermione, "She has enough on her plate with what happened last year, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, I suppose, but she ought to know." Argued Demelza,

"It could be a coincidence." Suggested Luna,

"No, I don't think so, I think someone set that banshee on us, and the red cap, if someone's trying to kill us, they're trying to do it without being caught." Said Hermione,

"Does it want all four of us dead?" asked Demelza,

"Possibly, but it definitely wants either me or Luna." Said Hermione, "We're the only thing that kept constant during both attacks."

"Unless they weren't the only two attacks." Said Luna,

"What do you mean?" asked Ginny,

"Maybe there have been other attacks around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade and we just happened to have gotten caught up in the middle of it." Said Luna,

"Maybe, what reasons could someone want for wanting to kill the two of you, or any of us?" said Ginny,

"I can think of a few." Said Demelza who turned to Ginny,

"Well, I'm a muggle-born; it could be by someone prejudice." Thought Hermione,

"Who's prejudice now days?" asked Demelza,

"I know someone." Said Hermione, she remembered what Katrina had said at the dance, _"…you'll pay for your comments…in time."_ "Do you think that Katrina could have done this?" Hermione felt quite silly by suggesting this,

"Were on earth would she get a banshee from, and even if she did find one, how would she have been able to get it here without dying herself?" Ginny debated,

"A muzzle." Said Luna,

"Yeah, because I hear that banshees are so easy to fit a muzzle on." Snapped Demelza sarcastically.

"Anyway, are you going to McGonagall?" asked Ginny again,

"No, I want to come to her with evidence, find out who did it, otherwise she'll probably just tell me that it's all a disconnected chain of events, besides, I'd rather tell Danielle first, she understands me better." Hermione concluded.

December fell upon Hogwarts and sprinkled the castle with a light layer of snow,

"I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so excited…" Ginny kept repeating because she knew that she would get to see Harry again soon at the Christmas dance, Hermione was also excited about the return of Ron, but she was a lot less open about it than Ginny was.

Fifth period was an arithmancy class, Hermione didn't have this class with Ginny or Demelza but she did have it with Luna, she never thought that Luna would enjoy an intellectual subject such as arithmancy, and then she remembered she was in Ravenclaw, the house of intelligence. However, Hermione did not see Luna in this class, nor did she remember seeing Luna at lunch, this was slightly suspicious. She went up to Mitchell (who was in her arithmancy class)

"Hey, Mitchell, you're in Ravenclaw, have you seen Luna today, is she ill or something?"

"She seemed fine this morning." He said, "But I haven't seen her since third period."

At the end of the class, Hermione walked out of the castle where Ginny was waiting for her frantically,

"Hermione, thank God, you have to come and help, some Slytherins, they've locked Luna in the dungeons with a ghoul!"

"What, wouldn't Slughorn see her?" asked Hermione as her and Ginny started on their way to the dungeons,

"He has all of his classes outside today so he can do-something-I don't know, but we have to help her." Ginny and Hermione sped up and at the bottom of the grand staircase they bumped into Demelza who said,

"Hey guys, you coming in for di-" Ginny grabbed Demelza by the wrist and started dragging her along, "Where the hell are we going?" cried Demelza,

"Katrina and some others have locked Luna in the dungeons with a ghoul!" yelled Ginny,

"So, doesn't mean I should have to go!" Demelza shook free of Ginny,

"Well, she's our friend." Said Hermione,

"You mean she's your friend, she's crazy." Snapped Demelza,

"Look, I know that's what everyone thought, but she was there fighting along side us in the Department of Mysteries, she helped me fight death eaters on the night Dumbledore died, she was a large contributor to the Battle of Hogwarts, she's a lot braver than you give her credit for!" retorted Ginny,

"Fine, I'll come, but if anyone asks, it was against my own free will." Demelza joined them in running.

The three of them made it to the staircase that lead to the dungeons, they began to run down it and at about halfway down, they halted,

"Hello mudblood, hello blood traitor, hello…other girl, come to save Looney Lovegood have we, me myself has just been down there taunting the ghoul, they're more ferocious when they're angry." Said Katrina. Hermione, Ginny and Demelza all started firing curses, hexes and jinxes in her way and she sent a few herself.

"_Impedimenta!" _cried Ginny, but Katrina dodged it,

"_Stupefy, Expelliarmus!" _cried Hermione, but Katrina blocked them all, as did the other three to Katrina's spells,

"_Incendio!_" yelled Katrina and a jet of fire came from her wand which was quickly stopped by Demelza with,

"_Aguamenti!_" and, as well as putting out the fire, the water completely soaked Katrina and in the confusion Hermione cried,

"_Impedimenta!_" and Katrina fell backwards and toppled down the stairs.

Hermione, Ginny and Demelza ran to the bottom of the stairs and found Katrina in a right state, Hermione thought, "_Levicorpus._" And Katrina was lifted up in the air and flew up the stairs and yelled,

"Don't think that this counts as payback, Granger there's worse to come for you!"

They opened the door to the dungeons and were greeted by a terrible stench, the ghoul. It was slimy and buck toothed and had a very ugly face. Heavy objects were on the floor next to the wall that the ghoul had probably been throwing at Luna, but Luna was fine, singing, in fact. The ghoul was sitting in a daze at Luna's lullaby.

"Luna are you okay, we're here to rescue you!" cried Ginny, Luna held up one finger as if to signify, _"_Wait_"._ She continued her song for another three minutes and the ghoul fell asleep,

"So you know ghoul lullabies?" said Demelza,

"Yes, I know most of the ways to sooth creatures, don't be too loud, you'll wake him." Said Luna, the ghoul shifted and Hermione gave a loud yelp and the ghoul was now on its feet, staring at them.

"Don't worry, I live with a ghoul, I know how to deal with one, _Wingardium Leviosa."_ Said Ginny and a potions flask that the ghoul had not thrown yet lifted into the air, it seemed very intrigued with the object and Ginny shifted her wand causing the flask to smash over the ghoul's head and caused it to pass out,

"That was a bit mean." Said Luna,

"Who cares," said Demelza, "lets get the hell out of here before it wakes up." The four of them ran back up the stairs and at the top they were greeted by three Slytherins, one was Katrina, one was the boy who had slipped the love potion into the punch at the Halloween dance and the other was Crabbe's sister that Hermione had sent off in the train,

"Finally got to Hogwarts Granger, she's mine, you two take the other three." Said Crabbe's sister, she fired a spell at Hermione and Hermione dodged it and came back with,

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" this hit her in the face and she fell, rigid and stiff, to the floor. Ginny had used the disarming spell on the boy and he was wandless and then,

"_Stupefy!_| from Luna and the boy flew against the wall. Unfortunately Luna had turned her back from her own battle and Katrina's cruciartous curse was heading right for her,

"_Protego!_" Demelza had put a shield in front of Luna and the curse rebounded and hit the wall, Demelza smiled at Luna and Luna said,

"Thanks, Demelza."

"Please, call me Demmy." Said Demelza, Ginny and Hermione smiled and then turned back to Katrina, all five of them were interrupted by a rumbling coming up the stairs.

The ghoul emerged from the top of the staircase and charged at them, they all screamed and disbanded, the ghoul looked around as though deciding which one to attack, finally it settled on an answer and began to charge at Ginny,

"About that whole flask misunderstanding, I didn-" the ghoul was running towards her and Ginny thought fast, literally. The ghoul flew up into the air as though it was being lifted by a fishing line and Hermione assumed that Ginny had used the _Levicorpus_ spell. She swung it from side to side, lifted it higher and dropped it, it was unconscious again.

Hermione walked up to it to make sure,

"Its okay, it seems to unco-aaahh!" the ghoul's hand gripped Hermione's ankle and lifted her into the air so that she was upside-down. Katrina ran away, the others came to and ran away with her, Hermione didn't know what to do and, judging by the looks of panic on their faces, neither did the other three. Suddenly, the ghoul dropped Hermione to the floor and toppled to the floor itself, tied up in thick ropes,

"News travels fast in this castle, I'm surprised none of the other teachers came to help." It was Danielle, "Come on, let's go." Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Demelza joined Danielle and Professor Slughorn walked into the room, he was probably returning to his classroom

"What's all of this, why is that thing-what are you-how did-what's going on?"

"Ah, Professor," said Danielle, "I believe that that is a ghoul and, um, good luck clearing it up, bye." The five of them ran out of the room.

"So what happened to the three Slytherins?" asked Demelza in the common room that evening,

"Saturday detentions for the rest of the year." Replied Hermione,

"Great," said Ginny, "It'll be Christmas soon, Harry, Ron and Neville are coming."

"I know, I'm really excited, it seems like forever since I've seen Ron." Said Hermione,

"Where will you be staying during the Christmas holidays?" asked Ginny,

"I'll be staying at the Burrow and your mum says that my parents can come and stay from Christmas Eve until New Years." Said Hermione, "Were do you live Dem?"

"Me? I live in London down the block from St. Mungo's Hospital, I always see healers walk to and fro in front of my house, that's one of the reason's I want to be one, that means I have to get really good marks in potions, care of magical creatures, herbology and stuff to do with caring and remedies." Said Demelza,

"That reminds me, what potions ingredients do we still need?" asked Ginny,

"Just dragonfly wings and doxy fangs." Said Hermione,

"Well," said Demelza, "at least one of those sounds quite easy."

"Yeah," said Hermione, "That is, if we don't get attacked by another banshee." The others all sniggered.


	17. Chapter 17

**Christmas Duet**

Christmas was drastically closing in upon them, the grounds were covered in an inch of snow and Ginny was doing a lot more rounds of,

"I'm so excited, I'm so excited…" The boys visit was also coming closer, with that, so did the dance,

"They'll be here tomorrow; I haven't seen Neville in months." Luna was saying at the breakfast table the day before the dance,

"Neither have me and Hermione seen Harry and Ron." Said Ginny,

"I've organized karaoke at the dance you know." Luna informed them,

"Sounds great." Said Demelza, Hermione and Ginny stared at her, "What?"

"Aren't you going to mock her or say something sarcastic or mutter under your breath?" asked Ginny confused,

"No, why would I, like you guys said, Luna and I are friends, besides, who needs petty comments when you have great friends." Demelza waved at Mitchell who was on another table,

"And a boyfriend who hires someone to sprinkle your bed with rose petals that spell out, _Demelza, come to the dance with me,_ causing the dormitory to smell like somebody whacked and scraped the walls with a bag of papyri." Said Hermione,

"Yeah, that does help actually, it's ironic isn't it?" replied Demelza,

"What is?" asked Hermione,

"That the only time that you three can see your boyfriends is during the holidays and the only time that I can see mine is when it isn't a holiday." Demelza sipped her pumpkin juice and stared at Mitchell,

"Speaking of them," Ginny started, "Harry sent me a patronous this morning and said that he, Ron and Neville will be arriving at about eleven o'clock tomorrow morning." This news severely cheered Hermione up, she then asked,

"How will they be getting here and back?"

"They're going to apparate into Hogsmeade and then take the train with us home tomorrow." Said Ginny,

"Great." Luna and Hermione smiled and Ginny joined them whilst Demelza just sat there and stared at Mitchell whilst making googly eyes.

"Hello, I missed you." Said Ron the next day,

"I missed you more." Hermione kissed him, "How is the auror…ring going?"

"It's going fine, but the real money has been my work in Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, we're making loads." He said,

"How have the others been?" she asked,

"They've been fine, Charlie's doing all right in Romania, Percy's in a new department at the ministry, Dad's here, Mum's fine, George is happy with business and he has a new girlfriend, Angelina Johnson, we haven't heard from Bill and Fleur in a while and Ginny, well, you obviously know about that, anyway, how are your N.E. going?" he asked,

"Fine." She replied,

"I bet more than fine," he continued, "Knowing you; you're probably top of the class for everything, am I right?" He smiled at her and she smiled back, he walked across the common room to talk to Ginny who had just been talking to Harry, Harry was now talking to Demelza and, judging by the words Hermione heard, they were talking about Quidditch.

The dance arrived and Hermione entered the great hall with Ron, he wore what looked like a regular muggle suit but a cloak other than a blazer, Hermione wore the robes that her parents had sent her for her birthday, purple with gold stars, an onyx dress with golden _Hermione _sewed upon it. The great hall had thirteen Christmas trees within it and was covered in many, many beautiful decorations. The house tables were stuffed at the side and people were singing at the front where the staff table would normally be.

"You look beautiful." Ron whispered into Hermione's ear before going of to the middle of the great hall and dancing with her to a slow, romantic song that was being sung by Mindy Mantis who had a very lovely voice.

Hermione also saw Ginny dancing with Harry and Neville dancing with Luna. Luna was wearing a shiny gold dress that you couldn't look at without blinking a considerable number of times that was accompanied by a tatted green cloak with many coloured baubles on it. Ginny was wearing a silver, sequined dress with some tinsel as a scarf, Harry and Neville wore suits with cloaks similar to Ron's. After a while of dancing, Luna went up and began to sing, she had quite a nice voice, and Hermione had only ever heard it briefly when she was singing to the ghoul. Demelza entered the hall and began to dance with Mitchell.

Hermione, Ron, Harry, Ginny, Luna and Neville were chatting next to the refreshments table after a considerable amount of dancing,

"No, don't drink the punch!" Hermione screamed at Ron as he was about to pour himself a cup full,

"Um, why not?" he asked,

"Because, I just don't like punch." Hermione hoped that that was enough,

"Why not?" he asked further, Ginny cut in,

"Because at the Halloween dance…" Hermione was sure that Ginny was about to tell the group about the events of the last dance, "Hermione spilled punch all over her costume and then slipped over on it and banged her head." Ginny shot a smile at Hermione, Ron turned to her for confirmation and Hermione nodded at him. Nervously, Hermione down a glass of something that was marked: _Only for students over seventeen years old, _judging by the taste, it was firewhiskey, she downed another glass, and another, and another. Ron also began drinking a few glasses since Hermione had forbid him from the punch.

"It was really fun, you guys should try it." Luna was telling them all about getting up and singing, "You should all try it." Harry, Ginny, Neville and Ron all shook their heads, but Hermione, who had now had a large amount of firewhiskey said,

"Wow! I t sounds like fun, lets go up there." She dragged Ron by the wrist up to the front and announced to everybody, "HELLO HOGWARTS!" everyone stared at her, "I would like your attention to tell you that me and my boyfriend here, isn't he handsome, are going to-hey gerrof!" Ron was trying to pull her off the stage, "We will be singing, can somebody put on some music." The Hogwarts band behind her began playing music, Ron downed five glasses of firewhiskey that he stole off of the first row and smashed against the wall, "Oh great, I love this song, c'mon baby let's sing!

"_Oh, come and stir my cauldron!"_ Hermione sang,

"_And if you do it right!" _Ron sang before they both sang together,

"_I'll boil you up some hot, strong love, To keep you warm tonight…"_ They finished the whole song and at the end they heard most of the students in the crowd cheer. Harry, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Demelza and Mitchell picked them both up. Hermione didn't remember much about the rest of that night except for a lot more firewhiskey.

Hermione woke up the next morning in a large, comfy white bed that wasn't hers. She was under the covers and realized that she was completely naked so she pulled the covers up to her neck and turned her head to reveal the other person lying next to her: Ron.

"Ron, _Ron!_" Hermione nudged him in the side and he sat up in a panic, saw Hermione and pulled the sheets to cover anything bellow the waist,

"Did we…?" he seemed confused,

"I don't know, I don't remember a lot about last night." She told him, she whipped out of bed and began to stuff her robes from the previous night (which were scattered on the floor) back on to herself, as did Ron,

"Nor do I." he said, "Where are we?"

"Lets find out." Said Hermione, her and Ron got completely dressed and stepped out of the door of the room that the bed was located; the room was suddenly recognizable from the outside,

"The room of requirement." said Ron,

"Yep." said Hermione.

Hermione and Ron took a silent walk back to the common room, they're cloths askew, they're hair very messy and ruffled and the only time one of them spoke was when the fat lady asked for the password.

"We should probably pack." Hermione said once they had climbed through the portrait hole,

"Yeah we sh-" Ron was cut off,

"Morning, out all night were we?" said Harry who had been sleeping on the armchair and Neville: the sofa.

"Yeah, I'm gonna just go and, um, pack, bye!" Hermione ran up to the dormitory, leaving Ron with Harry and Neville, but now she had to deal with Ginny and Demelza,

"Where were you last night? Crookshanks and Zelda were very worried." Said Ginny,

"I was, um, I, um I got so drunk on firewhiskey that I passed out in a broom cupboard." Hermione crossed her fingers, hoping that they would believe it,

"That's funny," said Demelza, "Because Ron didn't get in last night either, how coincidental."

"Yeah well he, eurgh, well of course he, um, he bumped his head and spent the night in the hospital wing." Said Hermione nervously, the two of them surely didn't believe her story but they simply smiled at each other and pretended to accept it and didn't pry any further.

Hermione packed up her things, got changed into some muggle clothes, and went down to breakfast with Ron, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Harry, Mitchell and Demelza,

"The train will be going soon.' Said Luna, "We should be setting off to Hogsmeade station." The eight of them finished their breakfasts and made their way to Hogsmeade station where the great scarlet Hogwarts express was waiting for them, puffing steam from the funnel.

They got on the train, Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny in one cabin, Neville, Luna, Demelza and Mitchell sat in another.

"You're welcome to stay in my room again if you want Hermione." Said Ginny once the train had started to move,

"Great, thanks, who will be there for Christmas this year?" asked Hermione, Ron answered,

"Well, us four, obviously, Mum, Dad, Percy, who has some surprise, George who'll be bringing Angelina, his new girlfriend, and Bill and Fleur, we'll be seeing them for the first time in months-ooh-and your parents Hermione and I'm sure that Luna and Neville will be welcome for Christmas dinner I'm sure."

"Great still, Harry, how has the auror life been treating you?" Hermione asked,

"Oh yes, I meant to ask him that." Said Ginny, she stared at Harry expectantly,

"The departments been doing really well, me and Neville have caught three dark wizards a got them to Azkaban, not many out there now, very hard to find." Said Harry,

"You and Neville?" began Hermione, "What about Ron?"

"Well he's been doing loads of work for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes lately but he has caught one dark wizard, we caught these two vampires in Australia, apparently, they lure muggles in by seeming really nice and offering them to stay, and then, when they're asleep, they chain them up and set a dementor on them, I can't believe people would actually fall for that." Said Harry,

"Yeah," said Hermione trying to mask the awkwardness of the fact that she and Luna had been fooled by this couple, "Who on Earth would ever fall for that?"


	18. Chapter 18

**Near Death Experience**

The holidays had been great so far; Hermione spent most of her time with Ron and caught up with everyone who was staying there. She had visited Luna and her dad over the hill a couple of times, but finally it was Christmas Eve and Hermione's parents had arrived. After Hermione greeted each of them with a hug, they were immediately snatched away by Mr. Weasley who began to ask them about things in the muggle world.

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in the living room until dinner, they had seen less of Ginny that holiday as she spent a lot of time talking to George's new girlfriend, Angelina Johnson (who turned out to be a chaser for the Holyhead Harpies and could increase Ginny's chances of getting on the team). They were just chatting until Mrs. Weasley called from the kitchen,

"Bill and Fleur are here and they've got news, everyone in here!" the three of them made it into the kitchen and saw Bill and Fleur standing there, Fleur was looking a bit fatter than usual,

"We 'ave zee most amazing news." She said,

"Fleur's pregnant!" announced Bill,

"Well that's great, we should celebrate, I'll crack open some firewhiskey," said Mrs. Weasley, "and Fleur, some butterbeer for you." She went to pour drinks and Hermione heard her muttering to herself, "I'm going to be a grandma; I'm going to be a grandma…"

"Just butterbeer for me thanks Molly." Said Hermione,

"Me too mum." Said Ron, Hermione thought that Ron, like her, didn't want a repeat of the last time they had had firewhiskey.

After everybody had celebrated the pregnancy and had dinner, Mrs. Weasley announced the sleeping arrangements,

"Mr. and Mrs. Granger will take our bedroom on the fourth floor, Arthur, we'll take the living room, Ginny, share your room with Hermione, Bill in your own room, Ron and Harry together in the attic, Angelina, you're going to your parents house aren't you, bye dear, Fleur can sleep in Percy's room on the second landing and George, you can go in your own room." They all disbanded up the stairs, apart from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, all excited about the following morning-Christmas!

Hermione woke up the following morning due to the shaking Ginny had given her,

"What is it?" she asked,

"Christmas-meet you downstairs!" Ginny ran out of the door and yelled so that it echoed through the whole house, "IT'S CHRISTMAS!" Hermione ran downstairs with Ginny to the living room where Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were waiting for them next to a Christmas tree that sat on top of a load of presents. The angel at the top of the tree was not very attractive as it was a gnome from the garden that had been held against its will and stuffed into a dress, but the rest of the homemade decorations looked beautiful. They were soon joined in the living room by Harry, Ron, George, Fleur, Bill and Hermione's parents. It suddenly became very cramped but everyone managed to claim their own section of the room to start opening presents.

Hermione opened her first present from Mrs. Weasley, it was a Weasley sweater, a thick, turquoise sweater with a large letter _H_ upon it, and she put it on, as did the rest of the Weasley children, Harry and Fleur. Her next gift was from Harry, it was a book that was entitled: _Famous Battles in Wizarding History. _Hermione flicked through it and she found something that caught her eye, _The Battle of the Department of Mysteries, _A few pages later she found: _The Battle of the Astronomy Tower,_ She turned more pages: _The Battle of the Seven Potters, _then she found a particularly thick section:_ The Battle of Hogwarts._

She then opened her gift from Ginny; it was a few intricately made outfits to go on the doll that Ginny had given Hermione for her birthday. From Bill and Fleur she had received a wizard's stationary set (quills, ink, rolls of parchment, coloured ink, etc.). From her parents she received an oval shaped locket, inside it, a picture of the three of them together from when Hermione was only about seven years old. George gave her some Peruvian instant darkness powder and a couple of decoy detonators. Finally, she got to her present from Ron; she tore it open to reveal a beautifully decorated box, Hermione opened the lid and music began to play, amazing music, almost as amazing as phoenix song, there was also a little porcelain fairy, posing like a ballerina, twirling and dancing around in it. Also sitting in it were two little, silver charms, Hermione grabbed them and shut the box, the music stopped, and she fastened the little, silver angel and the little, silver star on to her bracelet.

She looked around at everyone else opening their presents, she smiled at Ron when he opened the model broomsticks, the broomstick servicing kit and the many Honeydukes sweets that Hermione had gotten him. She managed to fit all of her gifts into her beaded bag and everyone left the room to go and have a spot of breakfast. Everybody only just managed to all fit around the table and were all given a large helping of Mrs. Weasley's pancakes and waffles.

Half way through breakfast came a knock at the door; George got up to answer it,

"Hello Luna, hello Neville!" exclaimed Hermione as she saw who it was, she got up to greet them,

"Hi Hermione." Said Neville,

"We came to drop off some presents for everyone." Luna dumped a sack of gifts on the kitchen floor,

"We have some gifts for you as well." Mrs. Weasley gave them a jumper each, one that said _L _and another that said _N._

"Thank you, I love it." Said Luna,

"And these." Hermione passed them the gifts to them from everyone,

"Well, best get going, bye everyone." Said Neville, he and Luna left.

After breakfast Hermione found her presents from Luna and Neville. From Luna she had some sort of incense burning stick and from Neville she got a packet of liquorish wands.

"Hey mum, I have to show you my present, it's in my room, I'll be right back." George ran upstairs and came back down about thirty seconds later holding an odd creature. He gave it to Mrs. Weasley, it looked like an overgrown ferrets and it was talking, but what it was saying was very rude,

"George, I told you that I don't want a jarvey, they're foul mouthed!" yelled Mrs. Weasley,

"But they're great for chasing and getting rid of gnomes, we wouldn't have to de-gnome the garden." Argued George, "and the bad language is hardly going to affect us, everyone in this house is seventeen or over." He finished,

"Fine." Mrs. Weasley released it in the garden and all of the gnomes were running and screaming from it.

Christmas dinner had arrived; the table was too cramped with all of the people and all of the food that Mrs. Weasley had prepared so they sat outside at a larger table. The Burrow had an added grace to it due to its thick layer of snow. Mrs. Weasley had put some sort of invisible magic bubble around the table to stop everyone from getting cold.

"Where's Percy, he's meant to be here isn't he?" said Mr. Weasley,

"Yes he is-ah, there he is now." said Mrs. Weasley. Hermione too saw Percy walking towards them waving, he was not alone though, and he appeared at the table with a woman on his arm. She had round spectacles and a pointed nose that gave her the same impression as an owl, her hair was long and at a brown so deep that it was nearly black. She stared around at everybody with her yellowy-green eyes and a smile grew upon her face which made her seem warmer than her first, stern expression,

"Who's this Perce?" asked Bill,

"Yes, who is she?" asked Mrs. Weasley,

"Mother, Father," Percy talked very formally for some reason, "This is Audrey, my fiancée."

"And why is this the first we're hearing of her?" asked Mr. Weasley,

"Fiancée?" said Mrs. Weasley, Audrey nodded and lifted up her left hand to reveal the fairly large diamond ring, "And how long have you known each other?"

"Three m-months." Said Audrey in a nervous tone,

"Just three months, you proposed to a girl after just three months!" yelled Mrs. Weasley,

"Yes mum, don't be angry, we're in love." He held Audrey's hand,

"Fine well, you might as well sit down for dinner now, we shall discuss this later." Mrs. Weasley brought out a giant turkey surrounded by so many delicious foods, everyone ate.

Mrs. Weasley warmed up to Audrey over the next few days. Hermione sat in the garden watching a small Quidditch match: Harry and Ron on one team and George and Ginny on the other, the jarvey, that George had named Slasher, scurried under Hermione's leg, the garden gnomes had not been seen since Slasher had arrived,

"Hey Hermione, maybe you should commentate!" joked Ginny who was flying on her broom,

"What's she talking about?" asked Ron,

"Nothing, never mind, carry on with the game, I'm keeping score, and it's a tie so far!" Hermione called to him.

It was a very close match but after another half an hour of playing, it was Ron and Harry who won. George, Ginny and Harry all dismounted and went inside but Ron took a victory lap, zooming around in circles, cheering,

"Come down now Ron, the game's over!" yelled Hermione,

"Okay, I'm coming down now!" said Ron. But before he could face his broom downwards something happened. Some sort of force seemed to push Ron clean off of his broom. He started falling from the air; Hermione quickly pulled out her wand and said,

"_Aresto Momentum!_" Ron came within an inch of the ground, stopped, hovered for a few seconds and fell to the ground completely alright.

Hermione rushed over to him and helped him up, he brushed all of the dirt off of his robes,

"Thanks, lucky you're quick with your wand." He said,

"Yeah lucky, you could have died, how did you fall off?" she asked,

"I don't know, I think it was just a strong gust of wind." He said. Hermione then swore that she saw a women's figure running off in the trees in the distance,

"Did you see that?" she yelled at Ron,

"What?" he looked confused,

"That women, over there, in the trees!" Hermione pointed out where she had seen the silhouette but it had now vanished,

"What are you talking about? No-one's there Hermione, what did you see?" Ron asked,

"No, never mind, it was nothing." She said.

Hermione had decided that the figure in the trees was just her eyes playing tricks on her. However, now she didn't care because she was counting down to the new year with everybody else,

"TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX, FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!" they all yelled, fireworks were jetting off all over the village of Ottery St. Catchpole and all of the couples inn the room kissed, Ron seized Hermione and kissed her, Hermioine never felt happier than when she was kissing Ron.


	19. Chapter 19

**A Worrying Memory**

Hermione sat on the Hogwarts Express with Ginny, Luna and Demelza and was on her way back to school,

"Next Quidditch match soon." Said Demelza,

"I know, Gwenog will be there, we have to have another big victory like last time, I have to impress her." Ginny breathed heavily,

"You know I hear that anyone who annoys Gwenog Jones mysteriously turns into a woodlouse." Said Luna,

"Well, you best not annoy her then." Hermione laughed.

"Yeah Luna, that's just a myth." Said Ginny,

"No it isn't, it's true." Hermione told her,

"Really?" Ginny asked, Hermione nodded,

"So I really best not annoy her then, but its okay, I _think _she likes me." Ginny continued to breathe heavily.

"I hope that the house elves are doing okay." Said Hermione, changing the subject,

"Do you think that Danielle has been working with them in the holidays?" asked Luna,

"Wouldn't she go home for the holidays?" said Hermione,

"It's odd, I never think of teachers as having home lives." Stated Demelza,

"Well, there is my dad." Said Ginny,

"Yeah I suppose, do you think that any other teachers have like _spouses _or something." Demelza and Ginny then went into conversation about the teachers lives out of school and Hermione was left talking to Luna,

"I've been meaning to visit the elves in the kitchen, I'm sure you have lots of times, being the leader of S.P.E.W and everything." Said Luna,

"No, actually, I haven't." Hermione then realized that she hadn't seen the elves in a long while; Danielle was doing so much work with them and what was Hermione doing? "I should definitely go to see them, I've made some more clothes during the holidays, you?" Hermione asked,

"Yes, I've also made some elf jewellery; I do hope that they like it." Luna said holding up a small bracelet encrusted with beads and jewels,

"Yes, it's very nice." said Hermione.

Dinner on the first night back was very nice,

"I can't believe that I'm going to be Aunt Ginny." Ginny was saying, "I hope it's a girl."

"What do you think they'll name it?" asked Hermione,

"Probably something French." said Ginny,

"Anyway, I have to go." Hermione told them,

"Where?" asked Luna,

"The kitchens, I'm going to go and see the house elves." Hermione made her way to the kitchens. She entered and saw the house elves working quite happily, she saw some of them in clothes that Luna and Hermione had made them: hats, scarves, gloves, jumpers, socks, dresses, trousers, blouses and skirts but they only wore partial outfits, never a full one. Some of the very young elves sat their using wands to move things around,

"Hello Kreacher." She said as the old house elf in the locket walked up to her,

"Ah, master Potter's mudblood friend." He said, "I'm sorry, old habits and all that, Kreacher meant _muggle born._"

"Is everything going okay with the payment scheme?" she asked him,

"Well, yes and no." Kreacher began, "some of the older elves do not wish to accept the offer." Hermione looked at some very elderly elves that were wearing tea towels, "Some elves still live in fear of being punished and freed by their masters, Kreacher does not fear as these at Hogwarts are not his true masters but those of the black family and master Potter."

"How much are you being paid now Kreacher?" asked Hermione,

"Kreacher's salary is up to six Knuts a week now miss." He answered,

"Hello Hermione." Said a voice behind her, Hermione turned around and saw that it was Danielle,

"Um, hi Danielle." Hermione was shocked by her sudden appearance,

"You know Hermione, there's something that I've been meaning to show you, but it isn't here, it's in my office, would you mind coming with me?" Danielle asked,

"No, not at all." answered Hermione.

The whole time that Hermione was walking up to Danielle's office with Danielle all she could do was wonder what she wanted to show her, finally they made it to the defense against the dark arts classroom,

"Just through there Hermione." Danielle pointed at the door on the other side of the room and Hermione entered the room in which it guarded. Danielle's office was very bright and colourful; it was filled with posters of Quidditch teams, cased broomsticks, dolls hanging on the ceiling, a comfy looking sofa and an armchair facing opposite it, a large, polished desk which sat in front of another armchair and there were also bookshelves filled with some books that Hermione loved and others that she had never heard of but what's title intrigued her, she also saw an open cabinet that contained the pensive and a rack with vials filled with, what Hermione could assume, memories. Danielle entered after Hermione and sat on the armchair that opposed the sofa, "Make yourself comfy." She said, offering an arm to the sofa, Hermione sat on it and it was extremely comfortable.

"What did you want to show me then?" Hermione asked,

"Ah yes, I wanted to show you this, one second." Danielle picked up a piece of parchment from her desk and handed it to Hermione. On it was a stick figure in a cloak with a badge drawn on it that said _S.P.E.W_. It had a smiling face and a load of bushy hair and captioned next to it were the words _My Hero._

"Who drew this?" Hermione asked,

"One of the child house elves." Said Danielle, Hermione couldn't help but feel quite touched by this, "This isn't the only one." Danielle passed a small stack of parchment to Hermione and Hermione flicked through the many badly drawn pictures of herself. It wasn't just Hermione; there were a couple of Danielle and Luna too.

"You know, Danielle, could I tell you something?" Hermione asked. She was going to tell Danielle about the times that Hermione had almost died by the banshee and the red cap, that she thought someone was trying to kill her, that she saw the figure of a woman flee in the trees at the Burrow,

"You know what, I want some tea, hold that thought, I'm going to the kitchens, I'll be right back, don't go anywhere." Danielle stood up and left her office.

Hermione stood up and put the pictures on Danielle's desk, she began to walk back to the sofa when she bumped into the rack of memory vials, some smashed on the floor, and some spilled into the pensive. Hermione slipped on the memory liquid that was now on the floor and before she knew it, she was falling miles and miles, she had gone into the pensive.

Hermione landed safely on her feet and saw a slightly younger Danielle being awarded by Cornelius Fudge (the old minister for magic), he put a medal around her neck, the scene dissolved and transformed into another one. Danielle was dueling with Bellatrix Lestrange, firing curses everywhere, and causing a couple of scars on Danielle's face. They were firing curses all over the place, non verbally, Bellatrix shot a large cobra from her wand that slithered towards Danielle, it was about to snap at her but Danielle set it on fire and it quickly turned to ashes. Danielle fired a stunning spell at Bellatrix but she blocked it, in her moment of victory she was caught off guard by the huge wave of water that was moving towards her, created by Danielle, it soaked Bellatrix, she fell to the ground. Danielle moved towards her, wand at the ready but she gave an insane cackle and dissapparated.

"COWARD!" Danielle yelled, the scene dissolved again.

Lord Voldemort loomed over a kneeling Danielle, but Voldemort was not ready to attack and Danielle wasn't kneeling out of fear, she was bowing,

"Stand up." Said Voldemort's chilling voice, Danielle stood, "You are Danielle Emma Ruperts, auror to the ministry, is that correct?" Voldemort asked her, Danielle nodded, "You have sent many of my death eaters to Azkaban, tell me, why should I trust you?" he asked,

"Because I have proven myself worthy, I am clearly more powerful than many of your other death eaters and, had it not been for her cowardice, I would have defeated Bellatrix Lestrange, I can bring you information from within the ministry and I have an agenda." Said Danielle,

"May I ask what this agenda is?" Voldemort's red eyes stared into Danielle's,

"I would like to destroy the Order of the Phoenix; they are the reason for my parent's death." Voldemort gave a smile,

"You are ruthless Miss. Ruperts, you will make a worthy death eater, do you swear to be loyal to me?" he asked,

"Yes my lord." She said,

"Hold out your arm." Voldemort commanded her; she revealed one of her arms to be branded with a skull with a snake spewing from its mouth: the dark mark, Danielle was a death eater.

Hermione was back inside Danielle's office trying to reason with what she had just witnessed. Danielle soon entered the room carrying a tray with a teapot and two cups of tea on it,

"I got the t-what happened?" she asked as she saw the smashed vials of memory on the floor, she put the tray on the desk,

"I-I stood up to put the pictures on the desk and I bumped into the rack and the vials fell off and-I'm sorry." Hermione explained,

"No need to apologize, it can be cleared up, what was it you wanted to talk to me about before I left?" Danielle asked,

"Oh, it's nothing, just…forget it." Hermione was about to leave,

"Hermione." She turned to Danielle who was looking in the pensive, "You didn't see any of them did you?"

"No." Hermione lied,

"Okay, well, you can go then." Said Danielle, Hermione walked out of the office and broke into a run up to the Gryffindor common room.

Could Danielle, the teacher that Hermione felt most connected to, be a death eater? Could she still be a death eater, could she have been the one who was trying to kill Hermione? Why would she do that, what had Hermione done? Then she thought, she was one of the people who hunted for the Horcruxes, she was a key part in the death of Voldemort, but would Danielle come to Hogwarts just to kill Hermione? Surely she would kill Harry first, not that she wanted that to happen, what if she went after Ron? Then Hermione thought, what if she already had? The woman in the trees, could that have been Danielle? No, this was crazy, Hermione didn't know the circumstances of the situation in the pensive but Danielle had definitely _been_ a death eater and if she still was, Hermione knew one thing, she was in trouble.


	20. Chapter 20

**Imperious Bludger**

"So Danielle's a death eater." Hermione had just told Ginny and Demelza in the common room about what she had seen in the pensive,

"Is or was?" asked Ginny,

"I don't know." Hermione replied, "But I saw a woman's figure in the distance at the Burrow just after Ron fell off of his broom."

"So, do you think that it was Danielle?" asked Demelza, Hermione shrugged,

"Do you guys think that she could be the one who's trying to kill us?" Hermione asked unsurely,

"If she is then we should tell McGonagall." Said Ginny,

"But what if we're wrong?" argued Hermione, "Why else would she be wanting to gain the allegiance of Vol-" Ginny gave her a mean look, "You know who?"

"Well, she's an auror, maybe they needed a spy." Suggested Demelza,

"But they already had Snape didn't they?" said Ginny,

"But Snape was Dumbledore's spy, not the ministry's, maybe the ministry didn't fully trust Snape and sent someone else in instead." Hermione thought that this was perfectly reasonable; "But Professor Ruperts-" Hermione began,

"I thought you could call her Danielle." Said Demelza, Hermione ignored her,

"_Professor Ruperts _was definitely working for Voldemort at one point, spy or not, the question is, where do her loyalties lie now?" said Hermione.

"Quidditch match coming up soon." Demelza began; Hermione could not believe that they would dismiss a serious subject like this just to talk about Quidditch.

"I know, we have to win remember, because…" Ginny started,

"I know, I know, Gwenog Jones, blah blah blah." Demelza did an impression of a talking mouth with her hand,

"This is serious." Snapped Ginny, "This is my future we're talking about."

"Come off it, you're a great player, even if we lose you have a guaranteed spot on the team." Said Hermione, "Who's the match against?"

"Slytherin." said Demelza, "Are you doing the commentary again Hermione?"

"No." she answered,

"No, no, what do you mean no?" Ginny seemed quite angry, "That means that I have to find a commentator."

"It can't be that hard." Laughed Demelza, "Oi you, Griselda!"

Griselda Withers turned away from the game of wizard's chess she was playing to face Demelza,

"What?" she asked,

"Do you want to be the Quidditch commentator?" Demelza asked them. Griselda took a small moment to consider this,

"Yeah, sure." She said. Demelza turned back to Ginny,

"See, not hard."

"Oh…just…shut up!" Ginny snapped.

The day of the Quidditch match had come, Luna was wearing her roaring lion head and Hermione sat in the stands waiting for the game to start. She saw Griselda Withers up in the stand that Hermione had sat in when she had done the commentary. She also saw Gwenog Jones sitting with another witch who looked quite old.

Madame Hooch was soon up on her broom talking to the two teams: Gryffindor and Slytherin, soon she opened a crate, the balls were released and Griselda announced,

"LET THE MATCH BEGIN!" Red and green blurs zoomed around the pitch, "GAVIN MCGREGOR GETS THE QUAFFLE EARLY, HE'S GOING FOR THE HOOP AND-OH NO-HIT BY A BLUDGER-EMILY MASHETER NOW HAS THE QUAFFLE-PEAKES SETS UP A BLUDGER-WILL IT HIT HER-NO IT DOESN'T BUT THAT SNEAKY ONE SET UP BY COOTE DID-THE QUAFFLE IS FREE-GINNY WEASLEY TAKES A DIVE FOR IT-SO DOES CHRISTOPHER SHINS-WHO GETS IT-NICE CATCH BY DEMELZA ROBINS THERE…"

It went back and forth like this for about forty five minutes, then they couldn't stop scoring and the scores were at ninety to Slytherin and sixty to Gryffindor,

"GINNY WEASLEY SCORES-NOW SEVENTY TO GRYFFINDOR-WAYNE RODGERS PERSUES THE SNITCH-HE NEARLY HAS IT AND-AND-AND-OH AND IT SLIPS THROUGH HIS FINGERS-DENNIS CREVEY IS NOW ALERT BUT THE SNITCH IS NO-WHERE TO BE SEEN-CREVEY CIRCLES THE PITCH AND-OUCH-BLUDGER FROM DAISY HARDING-CHRISTOPHER SHINS HAS THE QUAFFLE HE SHHOTS AND-NICE SAVE THERE BY MARIA SAMPSON-SHE THROWS THE QUAFFLE TO GINNY WEASLEY AND-CAUGHT BY MASHETER-SHE SHOOTS-SHE SCORES-ONE HUNDRED TO SEVENTY NOW-SLYTHERIN IN THE LEAD-AND-WHAT'S THIS-DEMELZA ROBINS OBTAINS THE QUAFFLE-A BLUDGER HEADING TOWARDS HER AND-SHE DODGES IT-UNBELIEVABLE-ANOTHER BLUDGER-ANOTHER DODGE-SHE PASSES IT TO GAVIN MCGREGOR-HE'S AT THE HOOP-HE'S BEING PERSUED BY A COUPLE OF SLYTHERINS-HE LOBS IT OVER TO GINNY WEASLEY WHO PORVES AN AMAZING CATCH AND SHE SCORES-JIMMY PEAKES HITS THE PLAYERS PERSUING MCGREGOR-HE ZOOMS TO GET THE QUAFFLE-HIT BY A BLUDGER-QUAFFLE CAUGHT BY GINNY WEASLEY AND ANOTHER SCORE-GRYFFINDOR NOW HAS NINETY-THE SCORES ARE VERY CLOSE-THE SEEKERS ARE BOTH IN SIGHT OF THE SNITCH-A BLUDGER HITS DENNIS CREVEY BUT HE'S SOON ZOOMING OFF AGAIN-COOTE TAILS RODGERS-NICE BAT-WORK AND DEMELZA ROBINS SCORES AND-I CAN'T BELIEVE IT-DENNIS CREVEY CAUGHT THE SNITCH FOR HIS SECOND GAME IN A ROW-WITH THE SCORES AT TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY TO ONE HUNDRED GRYFFINDOR WINS!" everyone in the crowd cheered apart from the Slytherins, Hermione heard Luna's lion head roar from the other side of the pitch.

The Slytherin team left the pitch and the Gryffindors were dismounting one by one, Jimmy Peakes was last, he flew past Luna and she did something extremely out of the ordinary. Luna jumped off of the stands and on to Peakes' broom, she snatched his bat and pushed off,

"_Aresto Momentum!_" Hermione heard a teacher yell and Peakes was safe. Luna flew around and caught a bludger, she was now zooming towards Hermione with bludger and bat, and she lifted the bat and smashed the bludger in Hermione's direction. Hermione lifted her arms to cover her face and felt a searing pain in her right one, it was broken.

Luna fainted and fell, a teacher yelled,

"_Aresto Momentum!_" and Luna was safe. Why had Luna done this, this was not her, the pain in Hermione's arm was searing so much that she passed out in the stands.

Hermione woke up and saw Luna talking to McGonagall,

"I heard a sort of voice in my head, I wasn't expecting it, it told me to do things and I just felt the need to do it, I feel so awful." Luna began crying,

"Do you remember the voice?" McGonagall asked her,

"No, it's all sort of a blur." Luna wiped the tears off of her face,

"Sounds like the imperious curse to me; you go and wash your face Miss Lovegood." Luna walked off.

"Professor?" Hermione called out, she opened her eyes fully and saw that she was lying in a bed in the hospital wing, her arm in a sling,

"Ah, Miss Granger, you're awake." McGonagall sounded genuinely happy,

"I think I know who cursed Luna." Hermione would regret this,

"Well who was it Granger?" McGonagall's lip thinned,

"I think, _think_, that it was Danielle, Professor Ruperts." Hermione hoped that McGonagall would not get too angry,

"You're probably just tired girl, why don't you get some rest." McGonagall left the wing.

Later that day Hermione was woken up by Luna, Ginny and Demelza who had come to visit her,

"I'm so sorry Hermione." Luna wined,

"It isn't your fault Luna, you were cursed." Hermione tried to prevent her from crying, "Ginny, how did it go with Gwenog?" Hermione asked,

"Well, she was impressed with me and she brought along the person that I'd be replacing and she said I was worthy and wished her luck to you." Said Ginny,

"Gave us a good scare, Madame Pomfrey said that if you didn't raise your arms it would have hit your neck and you'd be dead, lucky escape eh?" Demelza smiled at her,

"I think that this means that someone is definitely trying to kill me." Hermione told them,

"Yeah," said Ginny, "I guess it does."

"Do you think it was Professor Ruperts?" asked Demelza,

"Why would Danielle try to kill Hermione?" asked Luna,

"Only that she is or was a death eater." Demelza said this as though it was obvious news that everyone should know by now,

"But she's so nice.' Said Luna,

"She could be acting." Suggested Hermione,

"Well, I don't think that you can fake that kind of kindness." Said Luna in an official type of voice instead of her general dreamy tone.

Madame Pomfrey had told Hermione that she should stay the night in the hospital wing and her arm should be healed by morning. Hermione had a dream that night. Danielle stood over Hermione's dead body, Hermione was covered in blood, as were Danielle's hands, and she dropped the knife that, several times over, she had plunged into Hermione. That scene changed into Hermione joking and laughing with Harry and Ron when suddenly they dissolved into black smoke, Hermione was surrounded by nothing but darkness, suddenly, Danielle appeared, their was a flash of green light and Hermione fell to the floor.

Hermione woke up and the real Danielle was towering over her,

"Hello Hermione, couldn't visit you before, working, lots of paperwork, only just managed to be at the match, now, I heard that you said that I tried to kill you or something."

"Oh, I was really tired, I would have said anything." Hermione did not want to in any way offend Danielle; she felt a strong sense of fear around her now,

"Well, if you're okay, I'll be off, bye." Hermione waved goodbye and Danielle left the hospital wing.

Hermione reached for her wand with her good hand and whispered,

"_Protego._" An invisible shield formed around Hermione and that night she slept under it so she would feel safe. Danielle or not, something was trying to kill her, she couldn't afford to let her guard down.

Madame Pomfrey did get a surprise when she went to check upon Hermione. She hit the shield and fell down,

"Madame Pomfrey, what happened?" Hermione tried to sound surprised,

"I don't know, your arm looks fine Granger, you could go back to the common room but you night as well as stick out the rest of the night in here, ow, really bad headache.' Madame Pomfrey walked off rubbing her forehead and Hermione maintained the invisible shield around her as she slept.


	21. Chapter 21

**Poisoned Heart**

Inches of snow continued to cover the Hogwarts grounds as February arrived, Valentine's Day drew nearer as did the third dance of the year, and along with that, came Harry, Ron and Neville. Ginny sang her rounds of,

"I'm so excited…" and jumped all around the common room.

"Hey Hermione." Said Demelza in the common room,

"What?" asked Hermione,

"I never got you a Christmas present, thanks for the bracelet by the way, anyway, here it is." Demelza handed Hermione a package and Hermione tore it open, it was a short red dress with pink, heart shaped sequins dotted around it and a larger pink heart on the centre chest area, "It's a dress for the Valentine's dance, do you like it?"

"Yes. It's great, I love it, thanks Dem." Hermione did love it. Suddenly a silver hare burst through the portrait hole, it spoke in Luna's voice,

"Hermione, urgency in the kitchens, get here right away, no time to explain." The hare evaporated into silver vapor,

"I have to go, thanks for the gift." Hermione rushed out of the portrait hole and ran to the kitchens.

When Hermione got there she saw Luna and Danielle both looking very sad, three scary looking men and elves in shackles,

"Danielle, Luna, what's going on?" Hermione asked them,

"Someone tipped off the ministry about the elves using wands and now they're taking them to Azkaban." Luna sobbed,

"Who tipped them off?" Hermione was worried about the elves; they would surely go mad in prison,

"We don't know, well, at least they'll keep their sanity since Kingsley got rid of the dementors." Danielle frowned,

"a'righ' elves, off you come to Azkaban." Said one of the scary looking men,

"No they won't!" Professor McGonagall now entered the kitchen and her lip was thinner than ever,

"Sorry lady, bu' this really don't 'ave nuffink to do wi' you." Said one of the men, "You can' stop us."

"Maybe I can't," started McGonagall, "But he can." Kingsley Shacklebolt entered the kitchen,

"Men, I want you to let these elves go and leave the premises, now!" boomed Kingsley,

"Yes, Mr. Minister Sir, of course, righ' away." The men released the house elves and left,

"Thanks Kingsley." Hermione was happy that the Minister for magic was on her side,

"Now this is only temporary." Said Kingsley,

"What do you mean?" asked Luna,

"Well, the law is the law, elves can't use wands, to change the law you'll need the votes of ministry officials and a hearing must take place by July." He explained,

"Well, how do we get votes?" asked Hermione,

"Well I'm sure you already have professor Ruperts here, and you'll probably have Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Arthur and Mr. Longbottom on your side, and me and people generally tend to follow in what the Minister believes in votes like this, sorry I can't do more, goodbye Miss Granger, Miss Lovegood, Professor Ruperts, Professor McGonagall." Kingsley left, so did McGonagall.

Hermione spent a lot of time worrying about the elf hearing but soon enough Valentine's Day had arrived and Hermione woke up to find a bunch of roses, a heart shaped box of chocolate cauldrons, a small silver heart and a small silver bow and arrow. Hermione fastened the heart and the bow and arrow to her charm bracelet and opened the chocolates. Ginny and Demelza were also receiving their Valentine's gifts,

"Sweet gesture but he forgets that I don't like the kind with nuts in, any of you want them?" Hermione offered the box to Ginny, she shook her head but Demelza was happy to take them and began eating. Hermione magicked up a vase and filled it with water and put the bunch of roses in it,

"They look nice." Said Ginny, "Is there a card?" Hermione looked at them and saw that there was a card tied around the flowers, she pulled it off and read it:

_Dear Hermione,_

_I love you forever_

_Love Ron_

Hermione thought that it was very sweet of Ron.

She went downstairs after she had woken up fully with Ginny and Demelza and saw that Harry and Ron were standing there, Hermione hugged Ron, as did Ginny to Harry before asking,

"Isn't Neville with you?"

"No, he's waiting for Luna outside the Ravenclaw common room." Explained Harry,

"Thanks for the gifts." Hermione told Ron,

"No problem." Said Ron

The dance began; Hermione wore the dress that Demelza had given her and Ron wore a similar outfit to what he had worn to the Christmas dance except it was in red. When they entered the great hall, everyone they saw was wearing red or pink.

"I hope this dance goes okay," said Hermione, "The last two were very, memorable, well not the Christmas one but you get what I mean."

"Why, what happened at the Halloween dance?" asked Ron,

"Nothing, never mind." Hermione started to dance with Ron as did many couples with all of the single people standing at the side; Hermione did not see Demelza among anywhere though.

After about half an hour of dancing Ron went to get some refreshments and Hermione waited to the side of the dance floor. She saw Katrina Walker laughing with a group of Slytherin girls, Hermione moved in closer and heard what Katrina was telling them,

"Of course it was me who told the ministry about those ridiculous spew people and the elves with wands, what a shame they didn't all go to Azkaban, that would have destroyed the mudblood Granger." They all laughed and Hermione felt a huge surge of anger writhing through her, she couldn't control what she did next. She pushed passed all of the Slytherin girls and went face to face with Katrina, "Hey mudblood, what do you wa-ahhh!" Hermione had punched her in the face.

Katrina tried to trip up Hermione but failed and just slapped her round the face. They then began a fight, Hermione jumped on top of Katrina and wrestled her, they rolled to the centre of the hall and everyone moved to the side and stared at them. Katrina got to her feet and kicked Hermione in the side; Hermione sprang up and punched her repeatedly in the face. Hermione saw red on her hand but it wasn't blood,

"How much bloody lipstick can you wear!" she yelled and saw the masses of red smudges around Katrina's mouth and punched her in the nose, now she was bleeding, Katrina grabbed Hermione's hair and began to pull, she then succeeded in tripping her up. Hermione lay on the floor, Katrina standing at her feet, Hermione kicked her legs and Katrina fell and smacked her face on the floor, Hermione saw one of her teeth fly out of her mouth.

They both got up and grabbed each other's arms, they swung each other across the great hall, and they crashed into the refreshments table, people cleared out of the way and the table went over, the food and drink fell and smashed onto the floor. Hermione and Katrina stood facing each other and stared to run but they both flew backwards before they got near one another. This was caused by the invisible shield created by Professor McGonagall,

"That is quite enough! Both of you back to my office NOW!" she screamed Hermione and Katrina left the great hall with McGonagall; Hermione had now caused a huge scene at all three of the school dances.

They got to McGonagall's office,

"You have both shamed the school tonight with your muggle dueling, I think detention would be an understatement but here goes, DETENTION!" McGonagall yelled, "I expect you both here every night for the next two weeks, Miss Walker, return to your dormitory," Katrina left the office, "As for you Miss Granger, I think that you had better come with me, I shall collect Miss. Weasley and Miss Lovegood as well.

McGonagall lead Hermione, Ginny and Luna to the hospital wing, when they got there they saw Demelza lying in a bed,

"What happened?" asked Luna,

"She has been poisoned, lord knows how, lucky Professor Slughorn was present with some bezoars, otherwise I think that she would be dead." Said Madame Pomfrey, she and McGonagall left.

"Hey Dem, how did you get poisoned?" asked Ginny,

"I don't know, I had this stomach ache all day and then I just collapsed and- and-I was really scared…" Demelza looked sad,

"Have you eaten or drank anything odd recently?" asked Hermione,

"No, I don't think so, all I've had is the meals at school, oh, and this morning I had your chocolates Hermione." She said,

"You don't think that-that someone was trying to kill Hermione with those chocolates do you?" said Ginny,

"And Demmy got in the way." said Luna, Hermione nodded,

"Demelza, I'm sorry, this would be me if only I liked nuts." Said Hermione,

'Don't blame yourself, you couldn't have known; do you think Professor Ruperts did it?" Demelza asked, Hermione thought about this question and came to the conclusion of a nod.

Mitchell then entered the hospital wing,

"Okay, we should leave you two alone, bye." Hermione, Ginny and Luna left the hospital wing and Mitchell sat next to Demelza's bed.

Ginny and Hermione returned to the common room, Harry and Ron were there,

"That was some fight Hermione; I was rooting for you, what's wrong?" Ron noticed a tear run down Hermione's cheek and hugged her,

'Demelza's in the hospital wing because she was poisoned by the chocolates you sent me." Said Hermione,

"Well, when I bought them I didn't think that they were poisoned." Said Ron,

"They must have been replaced." Hermione concluded,

"Who replaced them then?" asked Harry,

"I have a hunch but I might be wrong, anyway, I just want to go to bed now." Hermione was very angry, sad and tired at the same time,

"Yeah, we best be going anyway." Ron kissed Hermione, he was about to leave with Harry,

"Oh, and you two, try and get some ministry officials to support S.P.E.W, please." Hermione pleaded,

"Yeah sure." Ron left the common room with Harry

Hermione and Ginny went up to the dormitory; Hermione couldn't sleep, not when she was staring at the empty bed that Demelza should have been sleeping in.


	22. Chapter 22

**Inferi**

Hermione spent the next two weeks in detention along with Katrina. Every time she went all she did was write: _I will not again submit to muggle dueling, _her and Katrina had to write this for two straight hours for the two weeks. Hermione hoped that Harry and Ron were spreading the message of S.P.E.W to the ministry. The only thing she was looking forward to was the Hogsmeade weekend that would take place the day after her detention finished.

"Is it your last detention with McGonagall tonight?" asked Ginny in muggle studies whilst they were fixing a radio without magic,

"Yes, are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" replied Hermione,

"Yes, me and Demelza are going to the shrieking shack, you and Luna are welcome to come with us." Ginny offered,

"Yeah, okay." Hermione managed to fix her radio whilst Ginny's looked like someone had bludgeoned it, Hermione's still turned on and worked perfectly,

"Muggle studies isn't my best subject." Said Ginny, Hermione nodded in agreement.

Soon enough it was time for Hermione to go to her final detention with Katrina and McGonagall. She got to McGonagall's office, sat down and pulled out her quill,

"That won't be necessary today Miss Granger, I think you've written enough lines." Said McGonagall, Hermione put her quill away, Katrina entered the office, "Nice of you to join us Walker, as I was about to tell Granger hear, you need not write any more lines, some of the house elves have been scared to work lately, you two shall fill in on kitchen duty washing up after the students, come on." McGonagall lead Hermione and Katrina to the kitchens.

"I shall check up on you in half an hour, put your aprons on and off to work." McGonagall left, Hermione and Katrina put on some aprons and began to wash up, McGonagall quickly came back in and said, "Oh, and no magic!" she left again. Hermione picked up a dirty dish and began to wash it by hand,

"This is all your fault mudblood, you started that fight." Said Katrina who had probably never done an ounce of hard work in her life,

"You tipped off the ministry about the house elves, which, is probably the reason why we're here because the elves are scared to work-because of you." Snapped Hermione.

"They worked hard for about twenty five minutes-well-Hermione worked hard-Katrina had only washed two dishes and a few forks,

"You know what mudblood, if you weren't so ridiculous with all of this spew rubbish, house elves are only born to be our slaves, filthy creatures, the lot of you!" she now yelled at the house elves,

"Don't you dare yell at them!" cried Hermione,

"Why mudblood, what are you going to do about it?" Katrina teased,

"You are such a-" Hermione didn't want to finish that sentence,

"A what, mudblood? Spit it out!" Katrina continued to tease,

"A…" Hermione tried,

"Yes?"

"A real-a real" Hermione fumbled,

"Just come out and say it, I dare you." Cackled Katrina,

"A real BITCH!" Hermione yelled,

"How dare you speak to me like that?" Katrina looked at Hermione like she looked at the house elves,

"You asked for it-literally." Said Hermione,

"Never the less you shall be punished," Katrina pulled her wand out, "_Crucio!_" she screamed. Hermione felt a pain of a thousand knives plunging and twisting into every single part of her body, but suddenly, it stopped.

Katrina had fallen over, Hermione saw Professor McGonagall standing there with her stand out, she had tripped Katrina,

"Never again will I hear of one of my students using an unforgivable curse, anything else like this and it'll be expulsion, I believe I have already given you a year of Saturday detentions for unleashing the ghoul on Miss Lovegood, so, I expect you down here every night washing up after the pupils, Miss Granger you may go." Hermione left, "Are you okay Granger?" McGonagall asked, Hermione nodded and went up to the Gryffindor common room.

Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Demelza walked along the streets of Hogsmeade village, they trod on the melting snow and entered the Three Broomsticks. They sat down inside and ordered three butterbeers,

"When are we going to the shrieking shack then?" asked Luna,

"After we're finished here probably." Replied Ginny,

"Don't tell me Hermione," started Demelza, "You, Ron and Harry have had adventures in that place to?"

"I'd say." Hermione nodded, "Ron was dragged down the Womping Willow by a black dog, me and Harry went in after him, got to the shrieking shack and found out that the dog was Sirius black and we-"

"Just a simple nod would have been fine." Said Demelza,

"I just hope that we don't get attacked by any fairies or red caps this time." Laughed Ginny, "So what's it now, a red cap, a banshee, Ron falling off of his broom, someone using the imperious curse on Luna and a poisoned box of chocolates, have I missed any more attempts to kill us Hermione?"

"No, I think you covered them all," said Hermione, "Well, someone's definitely after me, I think Ron as well and if it's me and Ron then they're probably after Harry too, you guys just keep getting caught in the middle."

"Do you still think that it's Danielle?" asked Luna,

"Well it was definitely a woman I saw in the trees, and she was a death eater, what other death eaters have access to Hogwarts?" Hermione argued, "Anyway, Ginny, are you as good as on the team yet?"

"Well, the current chaser who I shall hopefully be replacing says that I am a worthy player and Angelina put in some good words for me and they said it was great that I'm already friendly with another team member because it should mean that I'll get on better with the rest of the girls, so fingers crossed that the next game goes well in front of the whole team." Ginny crossed her fingers,

"I'm sure that you'll do great." Said Hermione,

"Yeah," said Demelza, "Valmai Morgan joined the team earlier this year and I've seen a lot better games come from you than from her." Ginny smiled.

They had finished there butterbeers and walked back up a street in Hogsmeade in the direction of the shrieking shack,

"They say that it's the most haunted house in Britain." Said Demelza,

"Yeah, we know." Said Ginny,

"Do you think we'll see ghosts, I mean, I hear that people have died in there." Demelza gave a shiver,

"Well, I saw Professor Snape die in there." Hermione told them,

"Really?" Demelza seemed intrigued, "Didn't he kill Dumbledore?"

'Well, yes but he is, well, he _was_ a good guy." Hermione didn't really want to go into explanation seeing that Harry had never told her the full story.

"Wow, it's amazing." Said Demelza once they had reached the shrieking shack and she examined the exterior, "Can we go inside?"

"I don't think we're allowed." Said Luna,

"Well, a small peak couldn't hurt." Ginny entered the old house followed by Demelza, then Luna and then Hermione,

"Boo!"

"Ahhhhhhh!' Ginny screamed before she realized that the _Boo_ had been made by Demelza, "That wasn't funny Dem!" snapped Ginny,

"Okay, I'm sorry, but it was funny." Giggled Demelza,

"It's quite pretty actually." Said Luna who, of course, looked as though she had wondered in there accidentally,

"It's a bit more depressing than pretty to be honest." Said Ginny,

"What are you talking about, I think it's great." Said Hermione, Demelza nodded,

"Hermione?" asked Demelza,

"Yes?" Hermione answered,

"Didn't you say that there was a secret passage way from here to the grounds?" she asked,

"Yes," said Hermione, "But I don't really want to go near the Womping Willow."

They got outside and began to walk back until they heard a shudder in the bushes,

"What was that?" asked Ginny,

"Do you think its more fairies?" asked Demelza,

"I don't know." Said Hermione,

"Why don't we take a look?" Luna was already walking towards the bush where they had heard the shudder, she pulled back the branches and a body emerged. It was a man wearing red robes and was walking towards them,

"Were you spying on us, why?" demanded Ginny, Hermione saw that the man had very white, dead skin, vacant eyes and didn't walk like a normal person,

"He's an inferius!" cried Hermione, the man took a swing at them, they dodged it,

"How do you stop inferi?" asked Ginny. Hermione tried to remember what Harry had told her about the time he and Dumbledore were in the cave,

"Fire!" Hermione exclaimed, "_Incendio!_" a puff of fire emitted from Hermione's wand and the man backed away, then they were intercepted by two dead women who kept trying to grab them, "_Incendio!_" more fire emitted from Hermione's wand and the inferi backed away.

More inferi emerged from what seemed like nowhere, and more and more. Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Demelza kept making fire to keep them at bay but there was now too many of them, they kept trying to attack the girls,

"_Incendio, Incendio, Incendio!_" They all kept emitting fire but now they were getting better. One of Demelza's spelles missed the inferius she was aiming for and some large branches of a tall bush set alight. This revealed a statue of a dragon, about the size of Newt the Border Collie,

"_Lacamum Inflammare!_" Hermione yelled, it hit the stone dragon and it came to life upon its stone base. It flapped its wings and breathed blue flames from its mouth, the dragon froze again and a ring of fire surrounded Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Demelza. The inferi kept trying to come and attack the four of them but anyone that did got turned to ashes by the blue flames surrounding them. Soon enough the fire went out and there were no inferi to be seen, there was, however, a ring of ashes on the ground where the flames had burnt, these were the remains of the inferi.

"What just happened?" cried Demelza,

"Well, there must be some sort of old charm on that dragon statue that caused it to-" Hermione began to explain, she was cut off by Demelza,

"Not that, why were there inferi…in Hogsmeade?"

"I don't know, probably just the latest attempt to kill me." said Hermione, surprisingly calm. They walked back down to the village and when the got there the first person they saw was Danielle,

"Hello girls," she said, "Having a nice day?" Hermione lied with a nod and Danielle walked off,

"Could Professor Ruperts have done this?" asked Ginny, "Created the inferi?"

"I don't know," said Hermione, "But I do think that she's capable."


	23. Chapter 23

**Forest Attacks**

"Okay, so first, we won over Hufflepuff, then Slytherin won over Ravenclaw and then we won over Slytherin, Ravenclaw just won against Hufflepuff so the final should be between us and Ravenclaw." Ginny was telling Demelza in Charms,

"Okay, are they a good team this year?" asked Demelza,

"Oh yes, the only reason that we lost to Slytherin is because they cheated, apparently, I don't want to point fingers." said Luna.

"Hey guys, do you want to go to Hagrid's tomorrow, we haven't seen him in a while?" asked Hermione,

"Oh yes, I bet that Buckbeak and Clarabelle's baby is getting very big by now." said Luna,

"He said that it was due in early March and it's late February now so it should be born soon." Said Hermione excitedly,

"I hope we get to watch it, it's the miracle of life." Luna was jubilant whilst Ginny and Demelza looked quite disgusted,

"Eeeww, isn't that going to be really gross, the birth and stuff?" Demelza shivered,

"Don't be silly Demmy," began Luna, "It's a beautiful thing."

"I just hope that the baby-foul-whatever, will have more of the hippogriff genes than thestral, you know, because otherwise it would look kind of weird." Said Ginny,

"I'm sure that it will be cute no matter what." Beamed Luna,

"Will we be able to see it even if we haven't seen death?" asked Demelza,

"I think so." said Hermione.

The next day Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Demelza made the walk down to Hagrid's house situated on the edge of the forest, Hermione knocked on the door,

"Why 'ello Hermione, what brings yeh 'ere today?" asked the giant form of Hagrid,

"We just came to visit." said Hermione,

"How is Clarabelle doing?" asked Luna,

"She an' the baby are jus' fine, now come on in you lo', 'elp yourself ter some tea an' rock cakes." said Hagrid, the four of them went inside the small, wooden cabin and sat around the table, Hagrid served them cups of tea and a piece of rock cake each which was hard enough to shatter your teeth within a single bite.

"Say Hagrid?" started Ginny,

"Wha'?" asked Hagrid,

"You know people who own dangerous beasts and things don't you?" she asked,

"Yeah." said Hagrid,

"Do you know anyone who has access to any inferi?" Ginny tried,

"Well I bloomin' well 'ope no'," began Hagrid, "I don' wanna be knowin' someone like tha', why d'yeh ask?"

"No reason." said Demelza,

"I's funny yeh should ask tha' actually." said Hagrid,

"Why?" sniped Hermione,

"Well, could a swore tha' I saw an inferius in 'ogsmeade the other day, well, they're no' all tha' 'ard ter spot' ter be perfectly honest, walkin' skeleton, bu' i' were a'righ', Professor Ruperts was on top of i'." explained Hagrid,

"What do you mean _on top of it_?" Hermione pried,

"Well, she was chasin' after i' weren't she, said summit abou' i' shold be were i's suppose ter be, I assume she mean' dead." said Hagrid

They choked down their rock cakes and swallowed the tea,

"Well, I suppose tha' yeh all wanna see Clarabelle, am I righ?" asked Hagrid. Hermione nodded and Luna looked excited. They left the hut and went out to Buckbeak's pen, a very pregnant Clarabelle lay their and Buckbeak lay next to her, stroking her neck with his beak,

"I'm glad that they've bin returnin' ter the pen once in a while, they stopped goin' ter the forest." said Hagrid,

'Why have they stopped going to the forest?" asked Luna,

"Well, them an' the rest o' the thestrals 'ave bin goin' to the Quidditch pitch a' nigh', I reckon I's the new grass fertilizer they've bin usin bin, but they 'avent bin goin' ter the forest because of all of the recent attacks." Hagrid babbled,

"What attacks?" asked Hermione,

"Well, alo' o' creatures 'ave bin found dead an' injured, judgin' by the woun's-I' were summit nasty." said Hagrid,

"Will the baby be coming soon?" smiled Luna,

"I's expected in abou' a week." Hagrid told them, "Yer all welcome ter view the birth, nothin' quite like a Hippogriff birth, or a thestral one, an' this'll be both."

"They look really sweet don't they?" said Demelza,

"Demelza, you can see thestrals?" asked Ginny,

"Well yes." She said,

"Who have you seen die?" Ginny asked further,

"Well, I was seventeen by the end of last year, I fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, I saw Bellatrix Lestrange and You Know Who die." said Demelza.

"Hey, were did Hagrid go?" Hermione had just noticed that Hagrid was not with them,

"NOOOO!" They heard a yell and rushed towards it, it was Hagrid kneeling down in the outskirts of the forest. It took a while for Hermione to realize that Hagrid was kneeling over the dead body of a unicorn. The unicorn lay there dead; it was covered in silvery blood and had vicious wounds all over its body,

"What could have done this?" asked Ginny,

"I dunno, bu' whatever I' was I' were a ruddy 'eartless beast, look a' those, they're fresh wounds they are, awful-just-just awful." Hagrid sobbed. Luna began to cry.

March soon arrived at the castle; flowers began to bloom all around the grounds. Hermione sat and had breakfast with Luna, Ginny and Demelza,

"So you think that when Danielle told the inferi to go back where it should be, she was telling it to go and wait for us, so it could attack us?" said Demelza followed by a nod from Hermione.

They were suddenly interrupted by a large flock of owls entering the great hall above them,

"Yay, post is here!" exclaimed Luna. The owls circled around the roof and dropped letters and packages in front of other students. A large barn owl swooped down in front of Hermioine and gave her the _Daily Prophet_, the wizard newspaper to which Hermione subscribed, Hermione gave it a Knut and it flew away. A few seconds later another barn owl swooped down and gave Hermione a folded piece of parchment; she unfolded it and revealed a note:

_Hermione,_

_Clarabelle is in labor, come quick,_

_Hagrid_

"Come on we have to go!" yelled Hermione, she gave the owl a Knut and it flew away,

"Why?" asked Ginny,

"Clarabelle's in labor!" she exclaimed, Luna jumped up,

"Oh goody!" she clapped her hands together, "let's go!" Ginny and Demelza both looked reluctant,

"Come on she's in labor now!" Hermione yelled at them, they eventually got up and came with them.

The four of them ran out of the great hall and down to Hagrid's cabin at the edge of the forest,

"Come on, come on-i's star'in'!" Hagrid was excitable outside of Buckbeak's pen watching. Hermione saw Buckbeak standing back, Clarabelle stood there struggling and calling out, "Oo, the foul's crownin'!" yelled Hagrid. Hermnione caught a glimpse of something disgusting and turned to Ginny, Luna and Demelza, Demelza and Ginny had their eyes shut and Luna looked as though she had stumbled in on the birth accidentally.

Hermione kept her hand fastened tightly over her eyes; she heard lots of Clarabelle's screams and whining. She also heard the tone of excitement in Hagrid's voice, until, finally, she heard Buckbeak call out merrily and the cries of a small creature. Hermione's hand slipped back down to her side from her eyes and saw the baby of Buckbeak and Clarabelle. It was the size of a regular new born foul but with the head of an eagle, it had tight skin which caused it to have a skeletal body, plain, white eyes, bat-like wings which were covered in grey feathers and the tail of a horse.

"I's a boy!" Hagrid announced,

"Ah, he's kinda cute." said Demelza,

"Yeah he is." Smiled Ginny,

"Have you thought of a name yet Hagrid?" asked Luna,

"Why yes I 'ave fer a ma'er o' fac', 'e's called Rusty." Hagrid told them,

"It sort of suits him." said Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Demelza nodded.

Hagrid wrapped Rusty in a thick, wooly towel and handed him to Buckbeak and Clarabelle who took him and began to nurture him.

Hermione, Ginny and Demelza sat in the common room doing homework at first but it became too hard for Ginny and Demelza so Hermione just ended up doing it for them.

"So what do you think attacked that unicorn?" asked Demelza,

"I don't know but it must have been nasty." Said Ginny,

"Don't suppose-n'ah, never mind." Said Hermione,

"What?" asked Ginny,

"Well, most creatures don't attack that close to the edge of the forest and unicorns definitely don't come out that far, do you think that-maybe…" Hermione struggled to get the words out of her mouth,

"_What?_" asked Demelza,

"Well," started Hermione, "Do you think that someone left it there as a warning or something, you know, marking its territory?"

"I don't know, is there anything _that _vicious in the forest, I mean, did you see the marks on that unicorn-eurgh!" Ginny closed her eyes and shook in disgust,

"Well whatever it was, it was no friend of ours." Hermione continued with Ginny and Demelza's homework whilst reading: _So You Want to be a Metamorphamagus: Volume five._


	24. Chapter 24

**April Fools!**

Rusty got slightly bigger over the passing weeks, more grey feathers and grey horse hair grew over his body making him look less skeletal. Hermione woke up on the morning of April first with something on her face, she quickly sat up and the thing on her face fell onto her bed. She picked it up and saw that it was a rubber spider,

"Are you honestly that juvenile?" Hermione stared at a smirking Ginny,

"April fools!-and-yes, actually." Laughed Ginny, suddenly, a scream, it was from Demelza who had woken up with a bed filled with rubber snakes, Ginny roared with laughter, "April fools! You should have seen your face Dem, hilarious."

"Is that really the best you can do?" asked Demelza,

"Well, I could have done better but I save the really bad stuff for my enemies." said Ginny.

Hermione sat with Luna, Ginny and Demelza at breakfast,

"So Ginny, I notice that Luna gets no pranks as soon as she wakes up." Snapped Demelza,

"Yeah, well, I've been busy with something else." Ginny smiled,

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione,

"Lets just say that breakfast is about to get a whole lot more interesting." Ginny's smile widened.

Suddenly something happened over at the Slytherin table, Hermione saw Katrina, but not how she normally looked, not at all. Her face was covered in, huge, bulging, puss filled pimples and she gave a scream as she stared into a compact mirror and everyone around her laughed. She stormed out of the hall,

"Slipped her a couple of fever fudge," said Ginny, "and-wait for it…" Katrina then sprouted yellow feathers all over her body, "A couple of canary creams." Everyone in the great hall laughed, including Hermione,

'How did you do it?" she asked,

"Crushed them up and hid it in her food." Giggled Ginny,

"Well, it was a very stupid thing to do, you could get into all kinds of trouble, as a prefect, I really should give you a detention, but, as a hater of Katrina, I think that I could perhaps let this slide, as long as I don't find out about something like this again." Hermione lectured her, Ginny nodded,

"Who do you think did that?" asked Luna who had zoned out to the conversation,

"It was-" Hermione saw Ginny mouth the words "_Head girl._" And pointing at Luna, "I don't know who it was." said Hermione nervously.

The four of them came out of the great hall after a fairly large breakfast were they saw Katrina walking down the grand staircase, she was no longer a giant canary and the pimples had been cleared from her face,

"Come to gloat?" she snapped harshly,

"Well, no, we were just going to-" started Demelza,

"Don't deny it; I know this was you Granger!" yelled Katrina,

"What? Me? I didn't do anything." Hermione laughed off this idea,

"Stop lying! Believe this-you will suffer for this-suffer!" Katrina stormed back up the staircase and Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Demelza all stared at each other, confused by the events of what had just happened.

Hermione slept deep into the night, she had a dream that Katrina tied her, stuffed her into a catapult and blasted her of into a volcano, then the volcano turned into Danielle who was holding a bow and arrow, the arrow came for Hermione and set on fire. Hermione set on fire herself with the arrow in her heart. Katrina and Danielle walked up to her and stood there, pointing and laughing as she died.

Thank God that Ginny was had been shaking her awake otherwise she didn't know what could have happened next,

"Hermione," Ginny whispered, "Finally you're up, I really have to show you something."

"What is it?" Hermione asked,

"It's a surprise; you'll be really excited when you see it, get out of bed!" Ginny shook her, Hermione stood up in her pajamas; she put on her slippers and dressing gown and followed the fully dressed Ginny down into the common room.

"Okay, just tell me what it is." Hermione demanded,

"No, it will spoil it." Said Ginny,

"Fine, where is it then?" asked Hermione,

"It's in the forbidden forest." Ginny answered, Hermione noticed that she was carrying her broom,

"Why are you taking that?" Hermione wished she had a clue as to what was going on as the two of them moved down the castle,

"In case we need it, we should both be able to fit on that.' Ginny seemed extremely calm,

"Why the forbidden forest, at night, are you crazy?" Hermione exclaimed,

"It will be worth it, I promise, you are going to be so happy when you see it, don't you trust me?" asked Ginny,

"Of course I do but-"

"No buts!" snapped Ginny, "Just follow and I'll take you to the big surprise."

"Okay, but I don't see what could interest me in the forest." said Hermione.

Hermione and Ginny got out into the grounds and headed towards the forest,

"Look, it isn't too late to turn back." Hermione tried,

"No, you have to see this!" yelled Ginny,

"Okay, calm down, what's wrong with you?" Hermione was confused,

"Nothing is wrong with me." Ginny went back to an unnaturally calm tone,

"Well, couldn't you show me this, this thing, in the morning?" Hermione just wanted to go to bed,

"No! It has to be now; you're going to be so happy when you see what I've found in the forest." Ginny smiled at Hermione,

"What were you doing in the forest anyway?" asked Hermione,

"I'll explain when we get there, we're not far now." Hermione and Ginny entered the forest and kept going far into it.

"How far out is the surprise?" Hermione was now frightened but Ginny seemed determined,

"Not far now." said Ginny. They kept going deeper into the forest, Hermione heard the odd rustling bush and shaking tree and noises that made her jump as they got further,

"Are we there yet?" moaned Hermione,

"Just a little further." Ginny seemed annoyed at Hermione's constant questions, Hermione couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched and with every step she took along the dark forest ground sent a quaking shiver of fear down her spine. She then saw Ginny's broom.

"Here we are." said Ginny,

"Ginny, that isn't your broom." Said Hermione, "That's a Nimbus two thousand and six,you have a Nimbus two thousand and five don't you?"

"Never mind that." Said Ginny,

"Where have you taken me anyway, what is wrong with you, are you even Ginny at all?" asked Hermione. Ginny clapped,

"Well done mudblood, you aren't as stupid as your blood status suggests." Her tone changed completely. Ginny's face began to change, her features shifted and her entire body changed until it was actually Katrina standing in front of Hermione.

"You would be amazed how easy it is to steal polyjuice potion from Slughorn's supplies." said Katrina, "All I needed to do was to steel some of blood traitor Weasley's hairs and lock her in a cupboard."

"How did you get into the common room?" asked Hermione,

"I'm quite good at the cruciartous curse as you might remember mudblood; it was so easy for me to torture the password out of Gavin McGregor, who can be found with Weasley, anyway, must dash-April fools!" Katrina cried,

"It's passed midnight, it's the second of April." said Hermione,

"Oh who cares, all that matters is that you should be dead by morning and the world will be blessed with having one less mudblood, bye." Katrina hopped on her broom and zoomed off in the direction of the castle.

Hermione was now doomed and aloe in the forest, she knew from personal experience just how unpleasant the residents of the forest could be. She began to walk in the same direction that Katrina had flown off in, the noises now seemed louder and fear took over her. She tripped on a large log and sat up on the forest ground; she stood up but was startled back down to the floor again.

A figure stepped through the trees and walked closer to Hermione, it wore a cloak and the face was shadowed by the night, fear kept Hermione frozen to the spot on the ground where she sat. The figure stepped into the moonlight the face was still unclear as the hood of the cloak still shadowed his face-his-it was definitely a man, the cloak was bloodstained, practically painted red with the odd spot of silvery liquid-unicorn's blood, whatever this was it was the same thing that had been causing deaths in the forest.

The man moved closer to Hermione, his mouth opened to reveal sharp, yellow teeth, they clamped down and opened again repeatedly and was moving closer to Hermione-closer-closer-closer-CLOSER-suddenly a large winged creature stepped in the way. Buckbeak stood to protect Hermione; he reared and cut the man with his sharp talons-now more blood stains added to the man's cloak but the new ones were his own. Eventually the man ran away and Buckbeak laid down a wing to let Hermione on his back, she climbed on his back, he took a run up and took flight.

She flew with the forest scene moving away beneath her, they landed in Buckbeak's pen where Clarabelle and Rusty lay sleeping peacefully. Hermione dismounted him,

"Thank you Buckbeak." Hermione stoked his beak and he fell asleep next to his wife and child. Hermione walked back up to the castle.

She got into the entrance hall where Peeves the poltergeist was waiting,

"Ah, Potty's pet geek has been sneaking out- that isn't like her now is it.' Peeves cackled,

"Go away you foul-" Hermione began,

"Oh, is geeky getting angry is she? What's Potty's pet geek gonna do? Huh?" Peeves flew through a wall and Hermione thought she was free of him but he came back soon with an armful of plates. He began to throw them at Hermione,

"_Protego!_" yelled Hermione, Peeves through all of the plates at once and they all smashed on Hermione's invisible shield in unison and the already audible noise was echoed through the castle.

"PEEVES! I should have known it was you, you're lucky I got here before Filch did or-Miss Granger, what are you doing here?" asked McGonagall who was in a tartan dressing gown and her hair in rollers,

"Geeky's been naughty." Laughed Peeves,

"Away with you, you vile poltergeist!" yelled McGonagall, Peeves left.

"It's a long story professor." Said Hermione,

"Well, you'd better explain it in my office, come with me Granger." Said McGonagall's thin lips, Hermione followed her to her office so that she could tell her the events of the night she had just experienced.


	25. Chapter 25

**Elf at Easter**

Before Hermione explained the events of the night to Professor McGonagall they managed to find the broom cupboard where Ginny and Gavin had been stuffed into by Katrina (it was located in the Gryffindor common room). Hermione explained what had happened, Katrina, the cruciartous curse, polyjuice potion and the thing in the forest.

"What did McGonagall say then?" asked Ginny at the breakfast table, "That Katrina deserves everything that she has coming to her after what she did to me and Gavin."

"Well, she will no longer be repeating her fifth year." Said Hermione,

"What? You mean she gets to move up to her sixth year-after that?" Ginny had a raging tone of anger in her voice,

"No, she got expelled." Said Hermione,

"Good, that's a start, though _I _think that she should have a cell reserved for her in Azkaban." Declared Demelza,

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" said Luna in her dreamy tone, Ginny, Demelza and Hermione stared at her,

"No, no it isn't." said Ginny.

"Have you guys heard of the Easter egg hunt I'm planning?" asked Luna,

"Um, no, we haven't." said Hermione,

"It will all be good fun; the houses go head to head to find the most Easter eggs of the six hundred and forty three that shall be hidden around Hogwarts." Luna explained,

"Sounds great." said Ginny, "I didn't think that you'd like competitive challenges though?"

"I don't, that part was the head boys idea after I brought the hunt to his attention." Said Luna,

"Where will they be hidden?" asked Demelza,

"I can't tell you that, that would be cheating; besides, I don't know, Hagrid's going to be hiding them." Luan told them,

"Will there be any kind of prize?" asked Hermione,

"Well, I originally suggested that we give the winners a basket of dirigible plums at first but the head boy has changed it to a large Honeydukes lollypop for everyone in the house that wins and ten galleons plus a lollipop for the singular person who obtains the most eggs." She said, "You're all welcome to take part."

"Yeah, sure…we…could." Demelza struggled and the other two gave short nods.

"Anyway, Hermione, what do you think that thing in the forest was?" asked Ginny,

"Well, it was a man, definitely a man and, whatever or whoever he was, I'm pretty sure that it was whatever has been attacking creatures in the forest, it had sharp teeth and was covered in blood." said Hermione.

Hermione woke up on Easter morning with something at the end of her four poster bed; it was a tray full of delicious chocolate eggs from Mrs. Weasley. She looked over and saw that Ginny was also indulging in the eggs.

"So, we have that Easter egg hunt to, um, look forward too." said Demelza who had received a couple of larger eggs and was trying to crack the top of one with her teeth.

Ginny and Demelza were both wearing headbands with white rabbit ears upon them, then Hermione saw a pair of ears for herself at the end of her bed. She tore off the tag that said: _From Luna._ She put the rabbit ears on her head and continued to eat the chocolate eggs.

Hermione went down to breakfast with Ginny and Demelza; they had removed their rabbit ears. The three of them sat with Luna who _was _wearing the ears,

"Aren't you wearing your bunny ears that I sent you, I made them myself." said Luna's dreamy tone,

'Yeah, they're great; I'll just…put them on." Hermione pulled the ears out of her beaded bag where she had put them and handed Ginny and Demelza theirs.

"They really suit you, you know." said Luna.

"Yeah, they look great." Demelza forced a smile,

"You hate them don't you? It's okay, I don't mind." said Luna,

"No, we love them." Said Ginny

"Sorry I have to go, I've got to go and help set up the hunt." Luna left the table and Hermione saw that she was wearing a pretty white dress with a large daffodil sewn onto the front and well decorated eggs stitched along the bottom.

After breakfast most of the students went out into the grounds where a small stage had been set up, Luna stood there with a megaphone and yelled into it,

"LET THE HUNT BEGIN!" The students dispersed across the Hogwarts grounds, Hermione went in the direction of Hagrid's cabin where she saw something in a bush, she put her hand into it and pulled out a prettily decorated pink egg and put it into the whicker basket that she, and everybody else, had been given.

Over the next hour Hermione had found six more eggs, two in trees, another in a different bush, one in a suit of armor's hand, one in a gargoyles mouth and one inside a torch in a bracket which were all over Hogwarts. She got out into the transfiguration courtyard and she saw a group of Slytherins robbing eggs from a couple of first years. Hermione was walking up to them without thinking,

"Oi! Give them their eggs back." Hermione stated firmly in front of the Slytherins,

'What are _you_ going to do about it you dirty little mudblood." said a Slytherin boy,

"I'll show you what I'm going to do.' Hermione had know idea where she was going with this, she surely couldn't duel with the dozen people opposing her, and she would definitely lose would she not?

A Slytherin shot a curse at Hermione, she dodged it, another curse flew at her, and she dodged that too. She took refuge behind the fountain and shot a jinx at them with caused a Slytherin girl to topple over which made the domino effect and knocked most of them to the ground. The first years ran away, Hermione shot up to fire a hex when all of the Slytherins had fired a curse at her and they were all coming for her.

Her legs wouldn't let her duck or run, all she could do was accept the twelve curses that were coming for her. Suddenly someone stood in front of Hermione; they used their wand to block the curses and sent the Slytherins back to the ground. They all ran away yelling things like,

"You wait until my parents hear about this!" or

"You should be expecting a letter from the ministry!"

Aberforth, the person who had saved her, turned around to face Hermione and asked,

"Are you alright?"

'Yes," answered Hermione, "Thank you."

"No problem, Hogwarts has always had trouble with that house; the ones I remember will be receiving a detention." Hermione plucked a blue egg out of the water, put it in her basket and ran along.

A few hours later Hermione gathered with everyone else who had taken part in the hunt, there didn't seem to be any Slytherins there though, odd. Luna stood on the stage with her megaphone and spoke into it,

"THE EGGS HAVE BEEN COUNTED, THE WINNING HOUSE WITHTHREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVEN EGGS-RAVENCLAW!" all of the people clapped around the Ravenclaw house, Luan continued, "THE INDEVIDUAL WINNER IS…DEMMY ROBINS!" Demelza and the Ravenclaws stepped onto the stairs, they all received there large Honeydukes lollipops and Luna handed Demelza ten Galleons.

The crowd gathered around the stage clapped when they heard a yell,

"Fire at will!" cried a mysterious voice, suddenly, all of the Slytherins charged at the people around and on the stage with eggs. They threw them at the people, covering them in yolk and egg white. They kept on charging and throwing eggs everywhere, Hermione's rabbit ears and robes got hit and she saw one go into Ginny's hair. Then some people got into the eggs that had been counted and began throwing them back at the Slytherins.

Hermione got into the entrance hall to get away from all of the mayhem outside. She heard people talking in the great hall; she opened the door a crack and saw inside. Danielle was in there with a wizard,

"Is this a good price?" asked Danielle who handed the wizard a sack, the wizard looked inside, Hermione assumed that it was full of money,

"Oh yes, I'll get it done for you." Said the wizard, he was now walking towards the door of the great hall, Hermione panicked and leaned against the wall next the great hall trying to look nonchalant. The man came out of the great hall, he looked at Hermione,

"What, something you'd like to ask?" Hermione asked,

"No, nothing." The man left the castle.

Danielle then stepped out of the great hall,

"Ahh," she screamed, "Sorry Hermione, you startled me, good news, some of the house elves were willing to accept a Sickle per week."

"Great, just no wands with that hearing coming up." said Hermione, "Better get out there, Easter egg fight, pretty messy."

"Yes, I'll be off, nice ears, shame about the yolk." Danielle left the castle.

Hermione sat on her four poster bed awaiting a response. She had sent a question via patronous to Harry. She needed to find out what Danielle was up to, when she tried to follow Danielle out of the castle a curse flew in front of her, but when she turned to see the caster of the curse, no-one was there. Had this been the man that Danielle had been paying, had she paid him to kill Hermione? She wouldn't find out unless she carried out her plan.

Hermione pondered over this for about five minutes before a silver stag (Harry's patronous) burst though the wall, it spoke with Harry's voice,

"Hermione, I just got your message, of course you can use Kreacher, I've ordered him to obey you, sorry, kind of defied S.P.E.W, all you have to do is call upon him." The stag evaporated into silver vapor.

Hermione sat there and said,

"Kreacher?" suddenly, with the noise of a _crack,_ the form of Kreacher the house elf stood in front of her,

"Yes Mistress Mudblood, I mean Granger?" said the old elf,

"Kreacher, I want you to stalk Professor Ruperts, find out what she gets up to, and you mustn't be seen by her whilst you do this, understand?" asked Hermione,

"Kreacher will carry out the task, Mistress."

"Just call me Hermione okay, and here." Hermione handed Kreacher a couple of silver Sickles,

"Kreacher cannot accept this." He said,

"Yes you can." Hermione put it in his hand,

"But Kreacher would be-" he started,

"Kreacher, I order you to accept this money, okay, goodbye." Said Hermione,

"Goodbye…Hermione." Kreacher disappeared with another _crack_; Hermione was determined to find out what Danielle was up to.


	26. Chapter 26

**A Dark Final**

"So are you prepared for the Quidditch final?" Hermione asked Ginny and Demelza in the common room,

"Yes, we've been having late practices every evening for the last two weeks, it's been exhausting." Said Demelza,

"It'll all be worth it." Ginny told her,

"Yeah, to you, you're the one who's practically guaranteed to be on a national Quidditch team." Argued Demelza,

"I'm not guaranteed, that's why this game has to go well, besides, you want to win the cup don't you?" prompted Ginny,

"Yeah." Demelza confessed.

"So, Hermione, have you heard back from Kreacher yet?" asked Ginny,

"No actually, I haven't seen him since I asked him to stalk Professor Ruperts." She said,

"So you really think that she hired an assassin, d'you really think that she'd go to that extreme?" asked Demelza,

"You never know." Said Hermione,

"Exactly, you don't know, you have no proof that Professor Ruperts is trying to kill you, just a series of coincidences." Demelza told her,

"Well, she _did _used to be a death eater." Hermione tried,

"Again, _used to be_; who's to say that she is now? We don't really know what the circumstances behind that memory you saw were." Demelza added,

"What? You mean that memory where she pledged her allegiance to Vol-" Hermione got cut of,

"Please don't say that name?" Ginny pleaded,

"Fine, but now that he's dead you should really get over that, anyway, she pledged her allegiance to…You Know Who." Argued Hermione, Demelza tried to argue but just ended up saying,

"Fair point."

Suddenly Hermione heard a _crack_ and the old elf, Kreacher, stood in front of the fireplace.

"Kreacher?" said Ginny in slight shock,

"Miss. Granger, I am here to report." He said,

"You mean you found something out about Professor Ruperts, what?" Hermione was excited,

"Kreacher did not find anything out of the ordinary, I'm sorry." He backed away from Hermione slightly with his hands covering his face,

"Kreacher, I'm not going to hurt you, you did as you were asked, thank you." Hermione tried to comfort him by putting her hand on his shoulder but it just caused him to shake and shiver even more so she thought that he was best left alone,

"If that is all then Kreacher shall be going now." He said,

"B-" Hermione tried but he had already dissapparated,

"Well, what do you suppose that means, you think that Professor Ruperts is innocent then, if Kreacher found nothing?" asked Ginny,

"Well, I wouldn't go as far as innocent but-I'm not sure anymore-it's all gotten confusing." said Hermione,

"Yeah, it really has." said Ginny.

They sat for breakfast on the morning of the Quidditch final, Luna wore, not her usual roaring lion head, but an eagle's head, naturally the only house that she would support above Gryffindor would be her own house: Ravenclaw.

"So, Luna, feeling confident?" Ginny asked her,

"Yes, I really think that we've picked a top team this year, our seeker has vastly improved as have our other players, but it isn't about winning as long as you have fun." Luna smiled dreamily whilst Demelza shook her head in disagreement.

"Will Griselda be doing the commentary again?" asked Hermione, Ginny nodded.

They soon finished their breakfast and made their way down to the Quidditch pitch, Ginny and Demelza went up to the changing room and Hermione found a seat in the stands with Luna. Hermione looked around the stands, she saw Gwenog Jones, Angelina Johnson and the rest of the Holyhead Harpies, and she then turned to see Danielle sitting amongst the teachers, Hermione felt very uncomfortable around her now.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle before Hermione realized it and the game began with the red and blue blurs zooming around the pitch. Griselda began to commentate,

"AND WE'RE OFF TO A SMASHING START HERE TO SEE WHO WILL BE TAKING HOME THAT CUP TONIGHT, ALREADY DOES GINNY WEASLEY GRAB THE QUAFFLE, AND, SHE SHOOTS, SHE SCORES-SO SOON-GET YOUR GAME HEADS ON RAVENCLAW BECAUSE IT'S TEN-NOTHING- BUT-OH WAIT-LAWNA WILLS NOW HAS THE QUAFFLE-SHE DODGES ONE BLUDGER-AND A SECOND BLUDGER-HAS DEMELZA ROBINS MET HER MATCH-MY GUESS IS NO BECAUSE SHE STEALS THE QUAFFLE-HEADS FOR THE HOOP-SHE PASSES IT TO GINNY WEASLEY WHO SCORES-GRYFFINDOR'S DOING VERY WELL SO FAR-TWENTY-NOTHING THEM-EVEN NOW GINNY WEASLEY SHOWS IMPECCABLE SKILL AS SHE WEAVES IN AND OUT OF THE PLAYERS- AND-LOOK-CLIVE MCMAC HAS ALREADY SPOTTED THE SNITCH AND IS PERSUING IT WHILST DENNIS CREVEY IS COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PITCH…"

The Ravenclaw seeker pursued the snitch for a while but was stopped by bludgers, Dennis seemed to drift from one spot to another- Ginny, however, was amazing, she was really trying, she scored loads of goals and didn't let the Ravenclaws have a chance,

"FINALLY CLIVE MCMAC HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH-RAVENCLAW WI-NO WAIT-THEY DON'T-WITH THE SNITCH THEY HAVE ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY POINTS AND GRYFFINDOR HAS ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-GRYFFINDOR WINS-WELL DONE CHASERS!" Griselda yelled, the Gryffindors cheered, so did Luna,

"Aren't you upset that you're team lost?" Hermione asked her,

"Why would I be, did you see Ginny out there, one of my best friends will be fulfilling her dream." Luna clapped.

Ginny talked with the whole of the Holyhead Harpies and it looked as though it was going very well-everyone was happy. Hermione then noticed Danielle leave the stands, it seemed suspicious but there was no time to care; now they had the victory party to get to. Hermione was about to leave as quite a few now had-suddenly-the sky seemed to rumble; the clouds above them turned grey and then glowed green as the changed form. Now, in the sky, formed a skull with an ugly serpent protruding from its mouth-the dark mark was above them all.

The remaining people in the stands began to panic-what had happened? Why was the symbol that had been used by Voldemort and his death eaters above the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch? Had someone been killed? Who had cast it? Could Danielle be behind it? Is that why she left as the others were celebrating-to cast that?

Hermione got back to the common room where all of the Gryffindors were celebrating, she saw Demelza on top of a chair dancing and all of the boys seemed to be crowding around her. Ginny emerged from the crowd,

"Hermione, I'm on the team, they loved me out there and I had great chemistry with the girls-I'm in-I start in September and…what is it?" Ginny saw the worried look on Hermione's face,

"The dark mark was cast over the Quidditch pitch." said Hermione,

"What?" yelled Ginny, 'How? Who?"

"Your guesses are as good as mine." said Hermione, "Look at Demelza up there, what's all that about?" Hermione was distracted,

"I don't know, a dance for victory." suggested Ginny, "Anyway, do you think that it was Professor Ruperts?" asked Ginny,

"Could be, she left the stands just before the dark mark showed up, I think it's a bit suspicious, don't you?" Hermione asked,

"Yeah, I do." said Ginny

Hermione didn't tell anyone else at the party about the dark mark, she didn't want to ruin their fun; she decided to go to bed and not have to deal with it. She sat on her bed when she was greeted by a sudden _crack_,

"Miss Granger!" cried Kreacher,

"What?" Hermione asked,

"Kreacher saw who cast the dark mark, he though that it might be of interest to you." he said,

"It is-who cast it?" Hermione was quite desperate to know,

"It was Professor Ruperts, Kreacher saw a flash of her face before she went under the disillusionment charm, and she was casting the dark mark." he told her.

"Really?" this is what Hermione had been expecting but she was still in shock, Kreacher nodded, "Um, thanks, you can go Kreacher." Kreacher disappeared with his usual _crack _noise and Hermione rushed downstairs.

She found Ginny and Demelza (who had stopped dancing),

"You seem in a rush." said Demelza,

"I am, I was right, Professor Ruperts did cast the dark mark, and she is still a death eater." Hermione took deep breaths,

"What?" yelled Demelza,

"How do you know?" asked Ginny,

"Kreacher saw her." said Hermione,

"Hold on, you're basing this all on what was said by _Kreacher_, since when has he been reliable?" Ginny said,

"Very, ever since Harry gave him Regulus's locket, plus, we still have all of the evidence that made me suspect her in the first place." said Hermione,

"Okay." Ginny agreed

"What, you think that Professor Ruperts cast the dark mark?" said McGonagall the next day after Hermione had explained everything, "all based upon what a house elf said?" McGonagall's lip went very thin,

"Not just what the house elf said, there's everything else." Hermione tried,

"This is ludicrous!" yelled McGonagall,

"But what about the memory, she used to be a death eater?" Hermione begged,

"Granger, if you like I will ask professor Ruperts about this _death eater_ nonsense, but for the time being I think that you should get going." McGonagall gestured the door to Hermione and Hermione mumbled,

"Forget it, what was I thinking going to that strict old..."


	27. Chapter 27

**N.E.**

Hermione stayed extremely cautious around Danielle over the passing weeks, not to mention the entire school being sent into panic over the events of the Quidditch final. McGonagall had been taking some extra precautions, locking the school earlier, sending all people to bed earlier and forcing all of the suits of armor to guard the hallways at night to make sure that no-one breaks in or is out of bed. None of this fazed Ginny who has who was just so excited that she had made it onto the Holyhead Harpies, but there was no time to focus upon all of this because it was the time of year where all of the seventh years start studying a lot for the upcoming N.E..

"The first N.E. are in a week, you nervous?' Ginny asked Hermione who was revising like there was no tomorrow,

"You know, just because you're already guaranteed a job right after you leave school doesn't mean that you don't need good marks on your N.E., it's the only reason why I took this year at Hogwarts." said Hermione,

"I know, I know, I have been studying, I'm just taking a break." Ginny tried, Hermione gave her a look,

"Yes, you've been taking a break all day, you know, they didn't give us days off of lessons so that we could relax, they gave them to us so that we could prepare ourselves, just look at Dem." Hermione gestured to Demelza, who was sitting on the common room sofa in a state reading frantically and practicing the odd spell or two,

"Okay, okay, look, I'm studying." Ginny picked up a book and shoved it in Hermione's face, the title read _Arithmancy: What Your Numbers Say About You._

"You don't take arithmancy." said Hermione,

"That's right I don't," Ginny put the book down and picked up another, "Is this okay?" she showed Hermione the title: _So You Want to be a Metamorphamagus: Volume eight,_

"That's okay." said Hermione, Ginny sat down, exaggerating each movement she made, and read the book.

The next day at breakfast, tiny little Professor Flitwick was handing out sheets of parchment, he handed them out to Ginny, Luna, Demelza and Hermione soon enough.

"What's this?" Demelza asked,

"It's the time table for our exams." said Hermione, who was inspecting her own time table,

"I have divination first, what have all of you got?" asked Luna,

"Divination, same as you." said Ginny,

"Same." said Demelza, "You Hermione?"

"I have ancient runes, and by the looks of it, it's a three hour exam." Hermione already felt nervous and the exams weren't for six days.

Five days to go, Hermione studied.

Four days to go, Hermione studied some more.

Three days to go, Hermione studied even more.

Two days to go, Hermione just kept on studying and studying and studying…

One day to go, Hermione was extremely nervous, she did what she did best and just powered through more and more studying, taking in every word, twice over, with intense depth. She wasn't the only one who was nervous, Demelza was in more of a state than before and Ginny had started to take things a lot more seriously,

"Are you able to change an aspect of your appearance yet?" she asked Hermione, Hermione answered with actions, she squinted really hard and focused, she opened her eyes and had blue eyes and blonde eyebrows, she then changed them back. Ginny banged her head on the table and Demelza pulled her hair and buried her face in the book she was reading.

The time had now come, the moment that Hermione had been preparing for, her first N.E.W.T exam: ancient runes. This exam was taking place in the ancient runes classroom (all of the students were able to fit in there because not many seventh years took the subject). Anything in the room that may be useful had either been covered up or removed. Each desk in the room had both many sheets of parchment and a book, a witch stood at the front and said in a demanding, stern voice,

"Hello, I am Professor Hazel, please take a seat." everybody sat at a desk, "Your task shall be to translate an entire chapter of the book presented in front of each of you, as you will notice, it is written in runes, you will translate it to English, you will have three hours to complete this task, if you finish before the time limit you should translate further for extra marks, if you do not finish within the time limit then you shall drop a considerable amount of marks, as will you if you miss-translate words, good luck, begin."

Hermione wrote her name at the top of the parchment along with the title of the book she was translating (which she had to translate out of runes first). She got to work on it, Hermione was quite good at ancient runes, she had been taking it since she first had the chance back in her third year and had been taking it ever since. Within the first hour she had managed to translate eight pages of runes into English, the symbols got more complex as the chapter continued. Hermione did not recognize the book she was reading, which was odd because Hermione had read or heard of every book in the library which probably meant that this was not in the library, probably to prevent cheating. After two hours she had translated fourteen pages from the book, she needed to pick up the pace, she thought very hard, her future was partly decided on this moment, this motivated her. She began hammering down rune after rune, after two and a half hours she had translated nineteen pages. The test was nearly over, Hermione was translating her twenty third page, that was three pages more than what was in the chapter, she hoped that not a mistake had been made in her rush, she would surely gain extra marks now.

Professor Hazel then stated,

"Quills down please, make sure your name is on each sheet of parchment you have used, I shall now collect your work." She walked around the classroom gathering up the translations, everyone sat silent whilst she did so, she put the large stack she had collected on the desk and said, "You may now leave." everyone stood up and left the room without a word and all began chatting on their way to the great hall.

Hermione sat down for lunch with Luna, Ginny and Demelza,

"How did it go?" Ginny asked her,

"I think that I did fine." said Hermione,

"Was it hard?" asked Demelza, Hermione nodded,

"We all have our divination exam after lunch." Luna took a deep breath but soon went back to her regular dreamy state.

Hermione had an hour break after lunch but after that she had her muggle studies exam, this was a written test. She went up to the muggle studies classroom with Ginny, Luna and Demelza. Professor Hazel was there standing at the front,

"Take your seats." she commanded, they did so and Hermione saw the test, it was a list of questions, some multiple choice, some essay questions, "You have an hour to complete this, answer as many questions as you can, no cheating, and begin." all Hermione heard from then on was the sound of quills scratching against parchment, including her own. She started pouring out answers to questions such as: _What are three popular muggle forms of entertainment, _or, _Give an example of a muggle sport. Explain the rules. _Just like the ancient runes exam, the questions became harder as they went along, Hermione however, had no problem answering any of them as she had grown up with muggles and lived in the muggle world, she was done twenty minutes before any one else and just sat there checking her answers.

The remaining time of the test seemed to last forever with people seriously thinking about the answers they were putting down. Finally Professor Hazel said,

"Quills down, I will collect your tests." she collected in the work and the people left.

"I'm so glad that's over." said Demelza on the way out of the classroom,

"Speak for yourself." said Hermione, "That was easy, I have five hour long N.E. tomorrow."

Hermione had Transfiguration first thing the next day, this took place in the great hall, the house tables had been pushed aside and Hermione was glad to see that she didn't have Professor Hazel, she had a man,

"Hello everyone, I'm Professor Mackerel, now, line up, assuming that you have all been studying and practicing hard I shall now mark you all on whether or not you can change an aspect of your appearance, the marks shell be determined on how much you change, how long you can hold it and the quality of the change. He went along the line, some people flashed a different colour eye or a streak of hair, some couldn't change a thing, for each person he tested, Professor Mackerel scribbled something down on a clipboard he held, he came across Hermione, "Name?" he asked,

"Hermione Granger." she answered,

"Take it away." he said, Hermione squinted her eyes and thought very hard, her mind focused, she then opened her now, bright purple eyes with thick ginger eyebrows above them, she held it for about a minute and then changed back, Professor Mackerel smiled, "Very good." he told her as he wrote merrily upon his clipboard. Hermione had no idea how Ginny, Luna or Demelza had done, too proud in her own self triumph. Later in the exam they had to turn a stool into an animal, make a stone come alive, turn a brick into a goblet and more, all of which Hermione did well.

Next thing Hermione had was history of magic, this was another written exam in the great hall, and they just stood there after their transfiguration N.E.W.T whilst Professor Mackerel mad a load of desks and chairs sprout from the tip of his wand, tests appeared on the desks, Hermione just sat down and got on with it. It was fairly easy, unlike Harry and Ron, Hermione had always paid attention to Professor Binns no matter how incredibly boring he was. The test was over quickly, professor Mackerel collected all of the papers and they were granted a twenty minute break until there next N.E.W.T exam: herbology.

Hermione walked down to the green houses where a load of dangerous looking plants had been set up and a cheery looking man stood there, when everyone got there he said,

"Hello, hello everyone, I am Professor Wheezmer." said the man, "It's quite simple what you have to do, each of you will have three plants in which to do a specific job, I shall mark you on how well you perform this job. Let's start with the devil snare, will you each grab a pot full each?" he asked them. Everybody, including Hermione, grabbed a pot full of devil snare and brought them back to the long table set up a one side of the green house. "Now, I'll give you a three second warning, after I count down from three, I want you to kill the devil snare, three, two, one, GO!" Hermione yelled out,

"_Lumos Solem!" _a very bright light burst from Hermione's wand, the devil snare relaxed and wilted, everyone else had made fire or light and most people succeeded. Professor Wheezmer marked all of them with his clipboard. They then had to collect ten berries from a gasurealuff plant with minimal damage (they could snap at you with their shell) and they had to know exactly where to chop up a fully grown mimbulus mimbletonia without spilling a single drop of the stinksap that it sprayed out, some people failed and covered themselves, others succeeded (such as Hermione).

They went to charms after they had lunch which was taking place the clock tower courtyard, Professor Wheezmer told them that they had to. First they had to levitate large and heavy boulders, and then they had to silence three crows each, then they had to each destroy and repair a grandfather clock, then they had to create an invisible bubble around themselves and more, Hermione did very well as usual.

Afterwards they went up to the tallest tower in the school: the astronomy tower. Professor Mackerel told them that they had the hour to fill in a map they had been given. The map was of stars but with a lot of constellations missing, they had to draw in and name the missing ones and get the places of the stars as exact and to scale as they could. This was tricky but Hermione managed it, another day of N.E. complete.

In Hermione's arithmancy N.E.W.T, with Professor Hazel, she had to measure the compatibility of the list of couples given and write whether or not the relationship would last, write down five compatible names for each of the people, work out the personality of there family tree and see what families would be compatible together and a lot more numbers and future telling. Hermione had no problem with this as her favorite subject was arithmancy and she always paid attention in class and stayed interested at all times.

Then Hermione had her defense against the dark arts N.E.W.T in the great hall with Professor Wheezmer. She started off by disarming a dummy and doing a load of defensive spells being called out, Hermione found it challenging to keep up, then Professor Wheezmer yelled out,

"Freestyle spell." Hermione performed the '_Levicorpus' _which made the dummy fly up in the air, Professor Wheezmer seemed impressed as he scribbled down on his clipboard.

"Now, any of you who can, for some extra marks, it would be nice if you could perform a patronous charm, go." he said. Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Demelza all yelled,

"_Expecto Patronum!_" whilst thinking happy thoughts (Hermione thought of Ron) and a silver otter, horse, hare and bat flew around the great hall, Professor Wheezmer looked extremely impressed as he wrote on his clipboard and soon enough the animals evaporated into silver vapor.

Hermione sat in the common room after the N.E.W.T with Ginny and Demelza and all she could think of was going to sleep, she fully understood why they were called _Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests._


	28. Chapter 28

**Through the Suits**

Hermione had a whole day of rest until her next N.E.W.T exam, Ginny, Luna and Demelza were currently in their care of magical creatures N.E.W.T, a class that Hermione didn't attend, although she loved Hagrid, she did not love _his_ love for dangerous and deadly beasts. She sat there thinking about how nice it was to rest until another thought popped into her head: the hearing is coming soon. Would she be able to get enough ministry officials to agree that the elves should be able to use wands?

Hermione spent the next two hours making flyers that supported the cause that she wanted to get across. She went up to the owlery, borrowed a school owl and sent them to the ministry. On her way back to the castle she saw Ginny, Luna and Demelza coming up to the castle form Hagrid's cabin (where their test took place),

"Hey guys, what did you have to do?" Hermione started to walk with them back to the school,

"We had to tame a couple of wild beasts, write an essay about how that was dome and then send the beasts to sleep, simple enough really." joked Ginny,

"I'm just glad that we only have one left." said Demelza,

"Yes, potions." said Luna,

"Yes, potions, POTIONS!" a thought had just popped into Hermione's head,

"What?" asked Demelza,

"I've been so distracted I'd forgotten!" exclaimed Hermione,

"Forgotten what?" asked Ginny,

"We still need dragonfly wings and doxy fangs for the exam!" yelled Hermione,

"Oh no, we haven't got any!" Demelza had a tone of panic in her voice,

"Well dragonflies should be easy enough to catch, they hang around shallow pools." said Luna with no panic at all,

"Okay then, fountain." said Hermione.

The four of them made their way to one of the school courtyards; they saw the fountain in the middle and rushed to it.

"How do we catch a dragonfly?" asked Ginny,

"Um, catch them with your hands." suggested Demelza,

"No," said Luna, "they're much to fast for that."

"Any ideas Hermione?" asked Demelza,

"I think so, you can all see the dragonflies right?" Hermione asked them all and the nodded, "Okay, now focus on one each, point your wand at them and say _Accio dragonfly._"

"Sounds simple enough." said Ginny. They all focused on a dragonfly each and raised their wands. Hermione followed one with her wand; she kept focused on it and said,

"_Accio dragonfly._" the dragonfly came zooming into Hermione's hand, the others followed her lead and had a dragonfly each, "Now we just pluck the wings off." Hermione got hold of the wings and plucked them off of the dragonfly's back, she dropped them into a flask in her beaded bag as did the others, apart from Luna,

"It seems so mean and I-" Demelza snatched the dragonfly, plucked off its wings and dropped them in the flask, Hermione returned it to her beaded bag. Luna sighed."

The four of them talked at dinner that evening,

"How are we going to get doxy fangs by tomorrow?" asked Ginny,

"We get them in Hogsmeade don't we?" asked Luna,

"But how are we going to get to Hogsmeade?" asked Demelza,

"We could use the one eyed witch passage way." suggested Hermione,

"No, it was blocked by Snape last year wasn't it?" said Ginny,

"Yeah, but it's been unblocked." said Luna,

"What?" asked Hermione,

"Well, I know these things, I'm head girl, McGonagall wanted everything to go back to normal at the beginning of this year, and she unblocked all of the passage ways that Snape blocked." Luna told them,

"Never mind, actually, the room of requirement has a passage leading to the Hogs Head, it's closer to both of our common rooms, we'll use that." said Hermione,

"When should we meet?" asked Luna,

"ten o'clock outside of the room of requirement sound good?" asked Hermione,

"Yeah, alright." said Luna, the other two nodded as well.

Hermione came out of the common room that night (having spent the rest of the evening studying the tactics for levitation potions) accompanied by Ginny and Demelza. As soon as they stepped of the portrait hole Luna was standing there.

"I thought we were going to meet outside of the room of requirement." said Ginny,

"I thought that I'd wait for you guys." said Luna,

"Well, lets go." said Hermione.

They went into the seventh floor corridor,

"Are there usually this many suits of armor?" asked Demelza, she was right, there were definitely more than usual lined up against the walls. The four of them walked forward but the two suits of armors in front of them flung their swords forwards and blocked their path, they stepped backwards and the armor put their swords away,

"I forgot that McGonagall upped security when the dark mark appeared over the Quidditch pitch." said Hermione

"How are we going to get past those?" asked Ginny,

"Luna?" asked Hermione,

"Yes?" answered Luna,

"You came here from the fifth floor; there must have been suits of armor there too." started Hermione, "How did you get past them?"

"I don't go onto the fifth floor corridor out of my common room, Ravenclaw tower leads straight to the grand staircase." explained Luna,

"So how will we get past these?" asked Demelza,

"We run." said Ginny, "Follow my lead." Ginny ran past the suits of armor and they didn't move, Hermione, Luna and Demelza did the same, "See, it works." they ran past the next pair of suits who also didn't move, they were quite impressed with themselves. Suddenly the first two suits of armor turned their heads and stepped to the side, as did the second, they moved in towards the four girls, swords at the ready.

They started running along the seventh floor corridor, running past suit of armor after suit of armor, each one that they ran past came to life and began to chase them. They ran as fast as they could, turning corners until they saw a blank piece of wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls to dance the ballet, where the door to the room of requirement would usually be. They ran up to it with the suits clunking about a while behind. Hermione walked past it three times thinking, _we need to get out of the castle, we need to get out of the castle, we need to get out of the castle._

The door of the room of requirement began to take shape, the suits of armor were at the end of the corridor and began to run at them,

"Faster, faster!" yelled Ginny. the door took full form, the armor ran at them, they got into the room, shut the door behind them and heard the sound of metal clunk against the door as the suits of armor all ran into it.

"Okay, there's the portrait, lets climb through it." said Hermione. They all went through the portrait hole and into the tunnel.

"I forgot how filthy this place is." said Ginny,

"Yeah, me too." said Hermione,

"I quite like it." said Luna,

"I've only been down here the once, but yeah it's quite gross, and dark, I don't really like the dark." said Demelza,

"There isn't any reason to be scared Demmy." said Luna dreamily,

"I didn't say I was scared of the dark, I just said that I don't like it." They were in the tunnel for quite a while until finally they reached the portrait on the other side.

They climbed out of the portrait of Dumbledore and Aberforth's sister Ariana and went to the bar. There were still quite a few people there so they just blended in and walked casually out the door and into the street of Hogsmeade.

"Okay, now we're out, lets find some doxies…where are we going to find doxies?" asked Ginny,

"In trees in secluded areas like where we found the fairies." Hermione told them.

They wondered into the more green parts of Hogsmeade, not that they looked that green since it was dark out. They found a nice, peaceful secluded area surrounded by trees,

"Have you all brought the antidote that Slughorn gave us earlier this year?" asked Hermione, they nodded, "Good." Hermione added.

"How will we know if there are doxies in the trees?" asked Luna,

"We shake them." suggested Demelza. Ginny went over to one and shook it, nothing happened, Demelza went over to another and shook it, nothing happened, now Luna went and shook a tree, nothing happened.

Hermione thought that this system seemed to work so she shook a tree, again, nothing happened. They shook all of the trees in that area and after nothing happened in any of them, they wondered looking for another secluded area.

They wondered the bushes,

"Dom you have that feeling?" asked Ginny,

"What feeling?" asked Hermione,

"Like you're being watched?" said Ginny,

"Yeah, I do." replied Hermione,

"Me to." said Demelza, even Luna, the person who always looked like she had walked somewhere accidentally and had such dreamy eyes nodded with a sense of fear about her.

They found another secluded area surrounded by trees, they began to shake them,

"Hey look, we're close to the shrieking shack." Hermione pointed out,

"Oh yeah." said Demelza seeing the shrieking shack lit up eerily by moonlight in close distance. They kept on shaking trees, they had shaken every tree in this area, Ginny leant against one,

"Let's face it, we're never going to find any doxies are we, we're going to fail our N.E.." said Ginny,

"No, no, we aren't giving up, I can't fail potions, not if I'm going to be a healer I can't, c'mon?" begged Demelza.

Ginny tilted her head back to rest on the tree, it shivered and soon about six doxies were flying at the four of them. They were fairy like creatures in that they were small and had wings but the also had four arms, black hair all over their body and had sharp, poisonous fangs,

"What are we going to do?" asked Ginny as they all walked backwards, the doxies came at them quickly now,

"This worked before." said Demelza, "_Protego!_" she yelled and the doxies hit the invisible shield and fell to the ground, but, unlike the fairies, they were unconscious, "Wow; I thought that that would be a lot harder."

"Never mind that, get their fangs before they wake up." said Hermione.

The four of them darted onto the floor and picked up a doxy each, they snapped out the fangs and put them in a flask from the beaded bag, Luna accidentally cut her finger on one before dropping one in the flask, Hermione put it in the beaded bag, they stood up,

"I think I've been poisoned." said Luna,

"Don't worry, you'll die either way." said an extremely sinister voice accompanied by two people, Fenrir Greyback, Scabior and Yaxley stood there.


	29. Chapter 29

**The Chase**

"What, I don't understand?" Hermione was very confused with what she was seeing,

"You wouldn't, you're a mere mudblood." croaked Yaxley,

"Seriously, I think I've been poisoned." said Luna,

"Kill them!" Yaxley barked and Scabior and Greyback moved in on them. Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Demelza began to run,

"Where do we go? Back to the Hogs Head?" asked Demelza,

"No, the shrieking shack's closer, we'll go there." said Hermione.

The four of them ran in the direction of the shrieking shack being chased by a couple of death eaters firing curses at them, luckily they weren't very good at aiming and the four of them _were_ good at dodging. Yaxley strolled on behind the chase, moving in the general direction the rest of them were with an evil grin upon his face.

"_Impedimenta!_" yelled Ginny, she knocked Greyback over, and he soon got back onto his feet. They entered the shrieking shack and quickly found the tunnel that would lead them to the Womping Willow,

"Be quiet, maybe they don't know the passage." Hermione whispered to them as they all crawled though the dark, dirty tunnel.

"How will we stop that tree from attacking us?" asked Demelza,

"Just tap it's trunk with a twig." Hermione made sure to speak in hushed tones, "and whisper."

"Sorry." Demelza whispered. They crawled for quite a while until finally they saw the light at the end of the tunnel. They climbed out and dusted themselves off, Luna got out her antidote but a thin branch knocked it out of her hand, the vile smashed on the ground, then a much thicker branch swept Hermione off her feet.

The Womping willow swung Hermione about in the air; she held on for dear life, she then saw that Demelza had a similar fate except she was riding the branch like a broomstick. Hermione caught a glimpse of the ground where Ginny was rolling around on the ground avoiding a club-like branch that was trying to whack her to death and Luna, too weak to fight back, got swept up and was swung from branch to branch.

"Luna, catch!" yelled Demelza, she through her vile of antidote over to Luna, Luna lifted her arm to catch it but this caused her to fall onto another piece of tree and the vile smashed against a branch.

Hermione was being dragged through twigs that snapped on her face, Ginny had climbed onto the branch trying to bludgeon her to death and it swung her off the end and her jacket got caught on a branch,

"Luna!" Ginny through _her_ vile of antidote which just smashed on Demelza's leg as she got swung through the middle.

Suddenly, Scabior and Greyback climbed out of the roots of the Womping Willow, unaware of the tree, they were lifted up by it. They did, however, see the four of them and began to fire curses at them. Hermione saw that Luna grew weaker, she dodged a spell and leapt to another branch and then onto the branch that Luna was on, she poured the antidote into Luna's mouth; she was fine and lively in a few seconds. Ginny flew across to them, the branch had managed to shake her off, but Hermione managed to catch her arm before she fell and lifted her up.

Hermione was pushed off of the branch and caught by another; she dodged another curse and fired one herself. Yaxley casually strolled out of the Womping Willow and taped the trunk with a log, the tree relaxed, Hermione, Luna, Ginny, Scabior and Greyback all were low enough to the ground to jump off safely but Demelza was swung off to the ground and was now unconscious.

"Now girl, I believe you will die." said Yaxley, he put his hand into his small pocket and pulled out a giant trunk, he opened it, and about a dozen dementors floated out.

Hermione, Luna and Ginny scattered, Demelza was still unconscious, and the dementors removed their back hoods to reveal their ugly, scabbed face with no features except a mouth. They floated around the three of them; one began to inhale Luna's face,

"_Expecto Patronum!_" Hermione yelled, a silver otter burst out of her wand and the dementor attacking Luna backed off, as did the three dementors around that one, it soon dissolved into silver vapor.

"Ready?" asked Hermione,

"Ready." said Luna and Ginny,

"_EXPECTO PATRONUM!_" yelled the three of them in unison. A silver otter, hare and horse ran at the dementors. Hermione hoped that no-one noticed the otter run across the sky in a completely different direction (Hermione had sent a distress message to the aurors). The otter soon re-joined the battle as Hermione cast it again, the three patronous' combined and sent a round silver shield out into the sky that caught all of the dementors and dispersed them into the night.

Hermione was proud of herself, and Ginny and Luna, until,

"Drop your wands!" Yaxley commanded them, they looked over at him, and he was holding an unconscious Demelza up by her hair with his wand to her chin, "Don't think I won't kill her, all I really want is the mudblood!"

"Why?" yelled Hermione,

"You brought down the dark lord, as the mudblood, you deserve the least dignified death along with blood traitor Weasley, the glorious death is for Potter!" Yaxley explained. Hermione saw Demelza wink at her, then, she whacked Yaxley in the nose with the back of her head, he let her go, she grabbed her wand.

Now Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Demelza stood facing Yaxley, Scabior and Greyback,

"Kill them, do a better job this time!" Yaxley ordered them. Hermione ran in a random direction without even thinking, the three other girls ran with her being chased by Scabior and Greyback who were both madly firing curses.

"Little girlies, run, run as fast as you can, where are you gonna hide?" yelled Greyback.

It took Hermione several minutes before she realized what she had both ran, and led everybody, into: the forbidden forest. Too late to turn back, she kept running into the forest. Ginny tripped on a log, the others stopped to help her up but Scabior and Greyback had now caught up to them, standing mere feet away,

"Well, well, well, I guess i's time for you lo', to die." laughed Scabior who raised his wand. The full moon came out from the clouds; everyone stopped and looked at Greyback.

His eyes shank, his nose formed a snout, his back broadened, the back of his robes began to tare, he sprouted hair everywhere, his teeth and nails grew, his ears raised, his robes fell to the ground, he sprouted a tail until in front of them stood a fully transformed werewolf. Greyback howled at the moon,

"Fenrir, Fenrir?" asked Scabior, this made Greyback turn to him. He pounced onto Scabior, he mauled him, he tore his flesh and ate his neck, his face, everything until there was only about a skeleton left of him. It was a disgusting scene to witness, blood everywhere. Soon the thestrals turned up, attracted by the blood and Greyback gave them a hungry scare,

"No!" cried Luna, this caught Greyback's attention he now turned to the four of them standing there and began to run at them, suddenly though, an arrow darted into Greyback's arm and a tribe of centaurs ran at him, they began to tie Greyback to a thick tree, they were able to do this because there were many of them. They bound him there so he couldn't move a muscle,

"Now we kill the creature that has been killing the other creatures of our forest." said a centaur. Hermione looked at the cloak that Greyback had shed, it was the same bloodstained one that the creature that attacked her wore, Greyback had attacked Hermione back in April.

"What should we do with these four?" asked a centaur who was addressing Hermione, Luna, Demelza and Ginny,

"Leave them, they're fouls!" said another centaur,

"No, they're all of age." said the first centaur,

"Oh, well in that case." a few of them turned on the four of them,

"We have to go." said Demelza,

"Quick!" yelled Luna, "On the thestrals!" Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Demelza climbed on the backs of the thestrals that had been attracted to Scabior's blood.

They took flight away from the forest,

"I can't steer her!" yelled Luna,

"Neither can I." Hermione replied, their thestrals were flying where they wanted to go,

"Didn't Hagrid say that they were attracted to the fertilizer on the Quidditch pitch, maybe they're going there!" suggested Demelza,

"Maybe!" said Hermione.

This was not fun like the time she had ridden Buckbeak on her birthday, now she was scared, the aurors were taking a while and Yaxley wanted her dead, she was tense and stressed, if the aurors did not get there soon then Hermione herself would have to duel Yaxley, sure, she would have help from Ginny, Luna and Demelza, but that didn't stop her from being scared out of her mind.

The skeletal thestrals carrying the four of them on their backs began to loose altitude, Demelza had been right; they were headed for the Quidditch pitch. They swooped down and landed in the stands,

"What are we going to do?" Ginny panicked,

"I don't know" said Hermione, "But come on, Yaxley is only one death eater, and we've handled loads of death eaters before."

"Yeah, I suppose." said Ginny, Luna nodded,

"Um, _hello!_" said Demelza,

"What?" asked Hermione,

"_I've _never fought a death eater before, the biggest duel I've ever taken part in was that one when those Slytherins locked Luna in the dungeons with that ghoul." Demelza admitted,

"But, I thought you said you were in the Battle of Hogwarts?" said Ginny,

"Yeah Dem." said Hermione,

"Yeah, but I never really duels, I just, stood at a window and threw things at death eaters." frowned Demelza,

"Well, grab something and prepare to throw!" said Hermione.

Demelza nodded, they heard a cackle in the distance,

"He's coming." Hermione warned them,

"We're ready." they said, they all raised their wands. Yaxley entered the Quidditch pitch,

"I'm here kiddiewinks, get ready for a fight!" yelled Yaxley,

"Remember, the aurors are on their way." Hermione whispered to them, Yaxley yelled out again,

"It's time to die mudblood!"


	30. Chapter 30

**Unexpected Help**

Yaxley pulled out his own wand and cast a spell, Hermione was lifted off of the stands and onto the ground of the Quidditch pitch, Ginny, Luna and Demelza stood up there watching whilst Hermione stood face to face with Yaxley. A woman then walked into the Quidditch pitch, her face looked exactly like Danielle's but with less scars, she wore a red, velvet gown with black, lace frills around the edges, shiny black boots and long black hair with perfect curls. She went up to Yaxley and kissed him,

"Have you met my wife mudblood?" asked Yaxley, "Though I believe you've met my sister in law, or, as you might call her: Professor Ruperts." This shocked Hermione quite a bit,

"Half sister, and you've met my half brother: Wesley Witby, I inherited my vampire side from his mother and my witch side from Danielle's father." said Yaxley's wife, she bore her teeth and Hermione noticed her sharp canines.

She pulled out a jagged wand and aimed it at a thestral above in the stands, she slit it's skin multiple times, she controlled the blood so that it fell on her and she showered it it. She licked her blood covered arms and hands,

"You monster!" yelled Luna, Hermione, though too scared to say it, thought the same thing. Yaxley's wife aimed her wand at Hermione, so did Yaxley,

"I've been waiting a long time for this moment." he said, "I've been hiding away in Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, I've been under the disillusionment charm for so long, I kept trying to kill you, a red cap, a banshee, a load of inferi, heck, at Easter I went for it and fired a curse straight at you, I knew that I was soon to kill you, Ivy even cast the dark mark up in the sky right here." he pointed at the floor, "My beautiful wife here, she knocked Weasley off of his broom at Christmas, but of course you had to swoop in and save him didn't you?" croaked Yaxley, Hermione then realized that it was Ivy that Kreacher had seen casting the dark mark.

"You filthy mudblood!" yelled Ivy crazily,

"Yes dear, quite, you kept narrowly escaping my plots until I finally hired Greyback and Scabior to kill you, Greyback has been here for a while now, living off of the creatures in the forest, that obviously didn't work out, so here we are, you die and I walk away knowing that I killed the mudblood that helped kill the Dark Lord!" yelled Yaxley, Ivy cackled,

"Can I kill her?" Ivy asked,

"No dear, she's mine; you take care of those three up there," he pointed at Ginny, Luna and Demelza, "You can feast on the bodies afterwards." Ivy leapt up onto the stands and began to duel with Ginny, Luna and Demelza, Hermione was left to duel Yaxley.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" Yaxley yelled, Hermione dived to miss it and yelled,

"_Expelliarmus!_" Yaxley laughed,

"Feeble, stupid girl, _Sectumsempra!_" the spell flew for Hermione,

"_Protego!_" she yelled, her invisible shield caused the curse to go flying back at Yaxley who created his own invisible shield and the spell kept bouncing from Yaxley t Hermione until it finally hit part of the stands. The stands was where Ginny, Luna were dueling against Ivy, they seemed to be putting up a fairly good fight.

"_Stupefy!_" yelled Hermione; Yaxley came back with another,

"_Avada Kedavra!_" the two spells flew at each other, they met exactly in the middle and were sent sideways, they hit the stands, exploding part of them. Yaxley let out a scream and then, "_Reducto!_" luckily Hermione dodged it and then fired a silent curse at Yaxley, he came back with one himself and they had a silent duel from then on.

They kept firing non-verbal spells at each other until one finally hit,

"_Expelliarmus!_" Yaxley had yelled and it knocked the wand out of Hermione's hand, another spell caused her to fall to the ground, Yaxley approached her, wand at the ready, "_Avada-_" Yaxley was cut off by a spell from above that knocked him to his feet. Hermione grabbed her wand and stood up, Danielle landed on the ground and dismounted her broom,

"Your welcome." she said,

"Oh, right, thanks." said Hermione.

Yaxley got up and started firing spells, Danielle and Hermione faced him together until Ivy leapt down from her duel with Luna, Demelza and Ginny,

"Hello sister dear." laughed Ivy, Danielle fired a spell at Ivy but she dodged it, now Hermione was left to duel with ivy as Danielle dueled with Yaxley.

"_Stupefy!_" yelled Hermione, with a wave of her wand; Ivy blocked it, "_Petrificus Totalus!_" Ivy blocked it again, Hermione fired more spells at her but Ivy kept on blocking them, she now cackled insanely at Hermione, "_Stupefy, Expelliarmus, Impedimenta, Petrificus Totalus, Incendio, Reducto!_" any spell that Hermione threw at her, Ivy blocked, she kept on cackling at Hermione, Hermione thought "_Levicorpus._" but Ivy saw it and blocked that too,

"You are a disgrace to magic dirty little mudblood, you couldn't even give me a scratch if you tried, you make me sick, just the sight of you because not only are you a mudblood but you are overconfident, you think you can defeat me, look at you, shaking in your shoes, that's why I survive, that's why I win, because we both no that you're nothing more than a silly little girl!" Ivy then started running at Hermione, her teeth bore.

How could Hermione stop her, she was faster than any human, any spell that Hermione could think of would just be blocked, then she thought, any spell she could _think_ of, Hermione thought "_Protego._" an invisible shield formed in front of Hermione, Ivy could not see it, she kept on running,

"I can't wait to feast on you!" she yelled right before she ran into Hermione's shield and fell to the ground. Before she had a chance to move, Hermione yelled,

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" Ivy went stiff and rigid on the floor, she couldn't move, Hermione took Ivy's wand from her hand and snapped it in two.

Hermione looked over at the duel between Danielle and Yaxley, there were a few bright lights and, soon enough, Yaxley had as well been stunned.

"How did you know to come here?" asked Hermione,

"Your patronous, it came through my office and I heard the message and sent another one to the ministry, I knew to find you because I saw you on the thestrals landing in the Quidditch pitch from my office window, that's where I told the aurors we should be, here, that explain everything?" replied Danielle,

"Yes, I think so, but, just one thing, I saw a memory of you promising to serve Voldemort, you were a death eater." Hermione said,

"No I certainly wasn't, I was on a mission for the ministry, trying to find out how Voldemort worked on the inside after they started to loose trust in Snape." Danielle explained, "Of course my sister over there," she pointed at Ivy, "saw through me right away, I had to battle my way out of that, that's how I got this scar.": she pointed to a scar on her neck.

"You can come down now girls!" Danielle called to Demelza, Luna and Ginny, the three of them climbed down from the stands,

"Fat lot of good you guys were." Hermione told them,

"Sorry, we could barely see anything with all of those spells you were casting." said Luna.

"He's moving!" cried Demelza, Yaxley had gotten up and made a run for the exit. at that point Demelza shot fire out of her bare hands and blocked the exit with it,

"How did you do that?" asked Ginny,

"Well, my great, great grandmother was a veeler and sometimes when I get really angry I can do part of what veelers do and shoot fire out of my hands." Demelza explained, Yaxley tried to tame the fire but Demelza just fired more out of her hand and trapped Yaxley in a small ring of fire,

"That would explain why all of the boys were crowding around you when you danced." said Hermione,

"So what, I'm not attractive?" said Demelza,

"No-I didn't mean-I wanted to say-" Hermione tried,

"I know what you meant, I was only joking." giggled Demelza.

"Let me out!" yelled Yaxley,

"Shut up!" Danielle yelled back,

"When is the ministry getting here anyway?" asked Hermione,

"Should be here now." said Danielle. Just then three people came climbed into the Quidditch pitch,

"We tried to go through the entrance but someone set it on fire." said Ron who was accompanied by Harry and Neville.

"Sorry about that." said Demelza,

"We heard you were in trouble, where's the danger?" asked Harry as he hugged Ginny, Ginny pointed at Yaxley in the ring of fire and then Ivy stiff on the floor.

"We had to handle it ourselves, thanks." said Hermione,

"Bet you did some damage Ginny.' said Harry,

"Actually no," admitted Ginny, "It was Hermione and Danielle who did all of the work."

"Well, good on you Hermione." said Harry, Ron hugged her and Luna hugged Neville,

"I'm proud of you." Ron told her.

Everyone was distracted that they didn't notice Yaxley escape the fire,

"Get him!" yelled Ron,

"Should have kept an eye on me." laughed Yaxley, blocked the curses that Harry, Ron and Neville fired at him, he then lured in a dementor from before,

"Seriously? You really need some new ammo." said Ginny, Yaxley then transfigured it into a small cat like creature with big ears, spotted fur and a lion like tail,

"A kneazle," Hermione smirked, "they only attack suspicious characters."

"Yes, but it's a dementor, that means that all of you positive, kind people are suspicious to it, _Engorgio!_" the kneazle then grew to the size of an elephant.

Yaxley laughed so much that he didn't pay attention when Ron stunned him and he fell to the ground. Then kneazle walked around the Quidditch pitch, it lifted its paw and claws shot out of the end. It smacked Luna who went flying up to the stands and then it scratched Demelza's back, tearing off the back of her shirt. Hermione quickly rushed by Demelza's side and poured some dittany (which was in Hermione's beaded bag), on the claw marks and they healed up almost instantly,

"Thanks." said Demelza,

"No problem." said Hermione.

The kneazle kept trying to attack the eight of them; the spells that they fired at it didn't phase it. It thrashed its teeth and tried to eat Danielle, she escaped it though. Neville and Ron lay Yaxley and Ivy, both stunned, side by side and they re-stunned them just to make sure that they wouldn't wake up,

"How do we defeat that thing?" Harry asked Hermione,

"How should I know?" said Hermione,

"Well, you're the expert in anything in a book, what do our textbooks say about keezels?" asked Ginny,

"Kneazles, and this isn't a proper kneazle it's a dementor!" yelled Hermione as the giant kneazle began to smack everyone around and tried to pounce on Ron, "It's a dementor." said Hermione again,

"Yeah, you've said." said Ginny,

"No, but don't you see, if it attacks us because it's a dementor than maybe it can be defeated like one." Hermione tried to explain,

"What do you mean?" asked Harry,

"Just follow my lead, EVERYONE CIRCLE AROUND IT!" Hermione called out, they were quite obedient and formed a circle, surrounding the beast, "NOW CAST YOUR PATRONOUSES AFTER THREE, ONE, T-" the beast thrashed, "JUST CAST THEM!" Everyone then yelled in unison,

"_EXPECTO PATRONUM!_"

Eight patronous sprang into existence, the silver otter, jack-russel terrier, stag, horse, hare, bat, bear and cheetah all ran through the air at the kneazle. They all hit the beast, it thrives and jerked, it shrank to regular kneazle size and then turned back into a dementor. The patronouses all emitted silver shields that surrounded the dementor, it was weakening, they all raised their wands and the dementor flung into the sky and then was shot into the air and went away trying to fight the silver orb of light, dying.

"We did it, well done Hermione." said Luna, they all congratulated her, shook her hand, hugged, Ron was last and he kissed her.

Ron, Harry and Neville had gone home later that night, Yaxley and Ivy and Greyback had been taken to Azkaban (Greyback had been put in a cell where the moonlight couldn't get to him) and Hermione was in her potions N.E.W.T. She had followed all of the steps of the complicated levitation potion and she had now finished, it had been hard work and you had to time out every detailed movement so that it didn't go horribly wrong, it was apparently meant to be the hardest potion that can be made within three hours and Hermione had finished it in two and a half.

"Great, you've finished." said Professor Mackerel, "Shall we test it." He let a rat out from its cage, picked it up and held it in one hand; the other hand dipped a ladle into Hermione's cauldron and fed the potion to the rat. He set the rodent down and waited, it was a few seconds before the rat jerked and levitated a couple of inches, soon it was flying, soaring all across the room, "Wow, I think that that's the best N.E.W.T levitation potion that I've ever seen, well done, you should be expecting an outstanding." Hermione smiled at this news, she had a lot to look forward to.


	31. Chapter 31

**The Hearing for House Elves**

Hermione only had the last week of school to prepare for the hearing, the events of that day would decide the future of the Hogwarts elves and could let house elves use wands. The wizengamot group held the trial with a wizard acting judge. He started of by talking about why everyone was there, then Hermione was called to sit on the chair in the centre of the courtroom, she did so. She saw that Ron, Harry, Danielle, Ginny, Luna, Demelza, Neville, Mr. Weasley and Percy (who had been forced there by Mr. Weasley) there to support Hermione and all of the Hogwarts house elves sitting in rows of seats.

"Hermione Jean Granger, you are on trial for encouraging the house elves of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry to use wands, do you deny doing such an event?" asked the judge,

"No." said Hermione,

"Are you aware of the laws that clearly sate that it is illegal for house elves to use wands?" the judge asked,

"Yes." said Hermione,

"Now, it says here that you are the founder of a student organization called _spew._" the judge read off of a piece of parchment,

"It's S.P.E.W sir, it stands for the society for the promotion of elfish welfare." Hermione explained,

"So you designed a group specifically designed for breaking the law." said the judge.

"No-it's not like tha-" Hermione tried,

"Now it says on this sign up sheet that the members of this little organization include yourself, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, Demelza Robins and Danielle Ruperts, are these people here today?" the judge asked.

Hermione had forgotten that she had forced Ginny and Demelza to sign up, the judge questioned them one by one about the house elves using wands.

"Ginerva Molly Weasley, you are a member of S.P.E.W, are you not?" asked the judge,

"Sort of." said Ginny,

"How do mean, _sort of_?" the judge asked,

"Well, I signed up, I went to the first three or so meetings and then I stopped, as did Demelza." Ginny gestured a hand to Demelza who nodded,

"Very well," said the judge, "So long you are telling the truth, you and Miss Robins are free to go." Ginny left the chair in the centre and rejoined everybody else.

Luna was called to the chair,

"Luna Elizabeth Lovegood, member of S.P.E.W, yes?" asked the judge,

"Yes sir, and proud of it." replied Luna,

"Really? What have you done to contribute to this society?" the judge continued,

"I have made clothes and jewellery for elves." said Luna,

"Does that mean you have freed them?" the judged asked,

"No, they're not scared of being freed ever since we started paying them." Luna told him,

"You're paying them?" he asked,

"Yes, but I believe that there is no law against that." said Luna, the judge had a thinking face on and came out with,

"You may go." Luna skipped off to the others and Danielle was called to the chair.

"Danielle Emma Ruperts, you are the teacher in charge of S.P.E.W?" he asked,

"Yes, I am a teacher, No; I am not _in charge _of S.P.E.W." Danielle replied,

"But you are a responsible adult?" he continued, Danielle nodded, "And you allowed these people to break the law?" the judge grew an ugly smile on his face,

"First of all, these girls are all of age, they are not my responsibility, and second of all, I do not think it is wrong to break a law if the law is unjust as this one is." Danielle remained surprisingly calm,

"So you think that wizarding law is unjust do you?" asked the judge,

"When it comes to enslavement and degrading innocent creatures, then yes, I do." she said,

"What is it you do for this little society then?" he asked,

"I try to help all of the elves get paid, little by little, getting larger with time-" Danielle started,

"Yes, very well, so it was your idea to pay the elves?" he smiled again,

"I do not believe that paying elves is actually against the law, _sir, _as Luna has already stated." she replied,

"So whose idea was it for the elves to use wands?" asked the judge getting slightly annoyed, Hermione stepped in and said,

"Me, it was my idea."

"Never mind, shall we just get it over with and send these elves to Azkaban?" laughed the judge,

"No, I believe this hearing was also called to get a law changed, the law that clearly states that house elves are not to use wands as you so rightfully said." said Hermione,

"Yes, if you have enough ministry officials on your side, by the looks of it you only have six." smiled the judge, this was time for Hermione's secret weapon, she pulled some parchment out of her pocket and handed it to the judge, "What's this?" he asked,

"It's a petition, _that_ is a list of all one hundred and ninety three ministry officials that think that the law should be banished, including the minister himself and, if I'm not mistaken, I only needed sixty." said Hermione, now she smiled,

"How do I know that these signatures have not been forged?" asked the judge,

"Like this, COME IN!" Hermione yelled, "You want proof, here's the proof." said Hermioine as one hundred and ninety three people, led by Kingsley, entered the room.

They were all of the friends made by Ron, Harry, Neville, Danielle, Mr. Weasley and Kingsley during their time at the ministry. Kingsley had many followers; the court room soon became very crowded,

"I believe that that's the law stricken Mr. Ruckermyer." said Kingsley, Hermione was happy, one of the happiest moments during the whole year, house elves could use wands. She looked over at the house elves most of them looked delighted, including Kreacher who came up and hugged Hermione, she was flattered.

Hermione, Luna, Neville, Demelza, Danielle, Harry, and the Weasley's all went out to have dinner at an Italian, muggle restaurant, Mr. Weasley was fascinated by everything of course.

"So, how do you think you did on your N.E. Hermione?" asked Demelza,

"I think I did okay, I'm nervous though." said Hermione,

"I'm pretty sure that I did terribly." said Demelza,

"I'm sure that's not true Demmy." said Luna, Demelza and Luna went into conversation and Hermione talked to Ron who was next to her,

"I'm sure you did great, all outstandings." he said,

"Well, not _all_ outstandings." said Hermione,

"Yes," said Ron, "If you don't get one hundred per cent outstanding on your results then I will…I will…I will take you out to dinner, where you want, on me, order what you want." said Ron,

"And if it _is _all outstandings?" asked Hermione,

"Then I'll still take you out to dinner, but _I _get to choose the restaurant, I can afford it all now with the money I've been getting from the joke shop." said Ron,

"Well, I'll be looking forward to it." said Hermione.

They ordered a very large pizza for the table; Hermione paid her share despite the refusal of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. It was quite delicious actually, quite a few of the people at the table had never had pizza before in their lives.

Hermione walked out of the restaurant in Ron's arms,

"One second, I just have to go and do something." Hermione told Ron, she quickly ran up to Danielle, "Hey, Danielle?" Hermione called,

"Yes?" Danielle asked,

"There's something I forgot to ask earlier." started Hermione,

"What is it?" asked Danielle,

"Well, at Easter, I saw you making a deal with a man, what were you doing?" Hermione asked,

"Hermione, I'm not going to be teaching at Hogwarts next year," started Danielle,

"Where will you be?" asked Hermione,

"I was going to do it anyway before McGonagall begged me to teach, I'm starting my own shop, in Hogsmeade." Danielle continued,

"A shop?"

"Yes, a wizarding toy shop, I don't want to be an auror anymore, I've had all of the excitement of a lifetime, now I think it's time for me to settle, it's always been a little dream of mine, that man was the man who was selling me the building." Danielle explained,

"Why was that a secret then?" asked Hermione,

"Because if I admitted it early then I wouldn't be a ministry official any more and I wouldn't be able to help you with the house elves." said Danielle,

"Thank you." said Hermione, she gave Danielle a quick hug; "I can't wait to visit your shop." she went back to Ron.

"What was that about?" asked Ron,

"Oh, nothing." said Hermione,

"Are you going back to your parents' house tonight?" asked Ron,

"Yes," said Hermione, "but I'll be back at the burrow with you in a couple of days, my parents are all right with that but they want some time with me first because they haven't seen me since Christmas." Hermione told him.

"I'll miss you." said Ron,

"What, for two days." said Hermione,

"Yes." Ron smiled,

"Well, when my N.E.W.T results come back, you'll be owing me that dinner." said Hermione,

"Okay, but I'll be choosing the restaurant because you'll be getting an outstanding in every subject, believe me, you're amazing." said Ron.


	32. Chapter 32

**Ron's Surprise**

Hermione spent the next two days with her parents as she had planned, her parents were happy to see her after so long. They spent the whole time catching up on recent events, Hermione told them all about Yaxley and the events of that night and their reactions were that of awe, excitement, horror and shock.

After her two days were up she apparated away from her childhood home after a breakfast cooked by her mother and appeared at the burrow. This time she avoided landing upon the chicken coop. She entered the house and was greeted quite warmly by the people in it. Bill and Fleur were there visiting and they had brought along their baby girl (she was born earlier that year on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts) who Hermione had never met and, she heard from Ginny, went by the name of Victoire.

She sat on the sofa in the living room with Ron, Harry and Ginny,

"So what do you think of little Victoire?" asked Ginny,

"She's adorable." Hermione replied truthfully,

"I know right, I've decided that we absolutely _have _to get her together with Teddy." said Ginny,

"You know they're just babies right?" said Hermione,

"Yes, but if we get them together at a young age it could result in a wedding, they would just really seal the family together." Ginny said,

"Yeah." said Harry.

"Did you hear?" asked Harry,

"Hear what?" asked Hermione,

"Neville and Luna, they've split up." said Harry,

"No, they were so good together." said Ginny,

"It's true, Neville told us," said Ron, "apparently Luna has gone to travel the world, it was all spontaneous, but Neville didn't want to go so they, well, broke up."

"Oh, that's a shame, I'm going to miss Luna as well, how long do you think she'll be gone for?" asked Hermione,

"Don't know." said Harry.

They soon heard a knock at the door and Ron went to answer it. He soon returned with someone else: Kingsley. It was not strange at all having Kingsley over, it must be great at the ministry saying that the minister for magic is a regular guest at your home.

"Miss Granger?" Kingsley started,

"Yes?" Hermione was shocked that this time he wanted to speak to _her _and not any of the others,

"I need to speak with you in private, if you do not mind Mr. Weasley, Mr. potter, Miss Weasley?" said Kingsley,

"Not at all." said Ron, the three of them got up and left the room, closing the door behind them,

"Now Miss Granger, I have an offer for you." said Kingsley,

"What would this offer be including?" asked Hermione who tried to sound very professional,

"A job." Kingsley stated,

"A job?" asked Hermione in slight shock,

"Yes, a job, I would like you to work for us in the ministry." Kingsley told her,

"Great!" Hermione was overwhelmed with joy, "W-what would I be doing?" Hermione calmed down,

"I would like you to work for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures." Kingsley informed her, Hermioine became excited again but then it came to a close and she asked,

"Are you just doing this because I'm a friend?"

"No, not at all, I have something to give you." Kingsley reached into his inside pocket and pulled out an envelope, it was addressed to Hermione so she opened it, it was her N.E.W.T results:

_Transfiguration Outstanding_

_Potions Outstanding_

_Charms Outstanding_

_Herbology Outstanding_

_Astronomy Outstanding_

_History of Magic Outstanding_

_Arithmancy Outstanding_

_Ancient Runes Outstanding_

_Muggle Studies Outstanding_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts Outstanding_

"It's all Outstandings." Hermione was now quite shocked,

"Yes, it is, plus your work with the house elves, that's why I think that you'd be perfect for the job.

"When do I start?" Hermione was excited yet again,

"You should enjoy your summer, why don't we say, the first of September, I'm sure you'll be use to that." Kinsley smiled, so did Hermione.

They left the living room, Kingsley left and Ron asked,

"So, what did he say?"

"He offered me a job." Hermione told him,

"Really?" Ron was excited for her,

"I'm in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, at least, I think that's it, it's quite a mouthful, but who cares because I got one hundred per cent outstandings, that is ten N.E.." smiled Hermione.

"Right, so I get to buy you a dinner, my choice, how does tomorrow night sound, say, seven?" asked Ron trying to be smooth,

"Sounds great." said Hermione

Ginny soon came walking down the stairs wearing robes of dark green with a golden talon upon the chest,

"Do you like them?" Ginny asked, "They're my new Quidditch robes, for the Holyhead Harpies." Ginny explained (Hermione wouldn't know seeing that her Quidditch knowledge was terrible),

"You look great, they really suit you." said Hermione,

"I'm going out for some Quidditch in the garden, you wanna come?" she asked, Ron nodded and Hermione followed them outside to watch, luckily Ivy wouldn't be there this time to knock Ron off of his broom.

Hermione had done her make up nicely and wore a good outfit for the occasion. Ron had taken her to a very fancy, expensive seeming, Indian restaurant. They both ordered curries (and a lot of water too because Ron couldn't handle his spice). After dessert, Ron started talking,

"Hermione, we've been together for one year now and I've secretly fancied since the moment I met you," his ears went slightly red, "Hermioine, I love you, more than anything in my whole life, all I ever want to do is be with you and when I'm not all I can do is dream about the next time I will be," He pulled something out of his pocket, got off of his chair and down on one knee,

"What are you doing?" asked Hermione,

"Hermione Granger, bear in mind I already received your parents blessing, will you marry me?" Hermione's heart went into shock, Ron had just proposed, did she want to marry Ron? She did love him, of course, he was her first love, did she want to marry him though? No doubt about that the next word that would come out of her mouth was-

"Yes, of course, yes." Hermione held out her left hand, Ron put the ring on her finger and kissed her, everyone in the restaurant clapped for them.

"I was so hoping you'd say yes, come with me; I have something to show you." Ron left enough muggle money on the table to cover the meal and a tip and dragged Hermione out by her wrist,

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked excitedly as they came out of the restaurant,

"It's a surprise." Ron said, he took hold of her hand and they apparated away.

They arrived at a farm, there was a beautiful farm house, yellow, wood, tile roofed, a porch that held up the balcony above and three dormers lined up across the top, a chimney going up to the top and happily puffing smoke, next to that was the even bigger barn, tall and wooden,

"What's this?" Hermione asked,

"It's our home." said Ron, "We spent ages setting it up, it was an old, abandoned, muggle farm that we rebuilt, let's take a look. They ran up on to the porch that contained a swinging chair and they went through the front door.

They found themselves in a hallway; it had two doors to one side, one door to the other and a lovely staircase. They went through a door to the right, it was the living room, it had a plump, white sofa with two armchairs beside it surrounding a large fire place, lit and warm, that explained the chimney emitting smoke. She also saw bookcases filled with books that she had mentioned over the years, so Ron did listen, and many other amazing things. Upon the sofa sat a dog, it looked exactly like a Jack-Russell terrier except it had a forked tale, Hermione went up to it, just her presence got it excited, she read it's collar, _Leontes, _it said,

"You got a crup, named Leontes." said Hermione,

"Yes," said Ron, "They're really loyal to wizards, can't let him near muggles though, they get ferocious." It merrily licked Hermione's face.

"Wow." Hermione said,

"This is just a small part." smiled Ron,

He then led her to the kitchen on the other side of the hallway, it contained everything a kitchen should have, an oven, a sink, and some really beautiful counters but before Hermione could take it in, Ron had already sped of to the adjacent room.

They entered the dining room which only contained a long table with many chairs around it. Then they moved onto the conservatory that contained two striped sofas facing each other.

They then went into the back garden which was filled with all manors of beautiful flowers and vegetables, trees and just nature's general beauty,

"Do you like it?" Ron asked,

"I love it." said Hermione,

"Well we're no-where near done." He took her onto the back porch and through a door that led back to the living room (Leontes jumped up with excitement) and then back into the hall.

"That's the bathroom." he pointed at the other door in the hall and they sped up the stairs.

This contained two rooms and they entered the one on the left, this room contained a king-sized bed with lilac covers and had an ensuite attachment to it.

"This will be our bedroom." Ron told her,

"It's great, I can't wait." Hermione had not seen many houses this beautiful, they left the bedroom.

"Now, on that side there's a room and upstairs there are three rooms but we can figure out what to do with them together, come on, do you want to see the barn?" Ron asked,

"Okay." said Hermione. They ran down the stairs, out the door and into the very large barn.

As soon as entering Hermione noticed the many floors that the barn contained with a lot of hey hanging around. She then saw the orange combine harvester, the red tractor, the yellow seeder, the blue quad bike and the pink motorcycle,

"Can you believe that someone left these her, we spent ages fixing them up so that they worked, shame dad was at Hogwarts, he would have had a right time of it." said Ron

Hermione pulled Ron towards her and kissed him, it was the best kiss she had ever had, she had had a very odd year, but who cared, she passed her N.E., she got a job and she was engaged to Ron, Hermione couldn't be happier.

**Completed 14th October 2011**


End file.
